Are you looking for an opportunity to showcase your initiative and demonstrate your leadership, communication, planning and problem solving skills to resolve land use and resource management challenges? Do you excel in team environments that embrace change to improve program and policy implementation for more effective delivery of organizational priorities? If so, consider this opportunity to further enhance your career within the planning discipline.
About the DivisionThe Regional Operations Division (ROD) is responsible for implementing provincial land use and resource management policies at local and provincial levels.
About Southern RegionSouthern Region encompasses the lands and waters of the south-central part of the province, south of the French River and Mattawa Rivers and bordered by three of the Great Lakes—Huron, Erie, and Ontario. The region makes up 13% of Ontario's land-base of the province and has 94% of the provincial population. In a predominantly privately-owned landscape, this region presents a complex planning environment with diverse natural resources and significant development pressures. Southern Region, Land Use Planning and Strategic Issues Section (LUPSIS) leads land use planning, issues management, and communications at a regional level.
Meet the Land Use Planning Supervisors: Ruth Lindenburger, Kelly Ross and Julie SimardThe successful candidates will report to one of the 3 land use planning supervisors within the LUPSIS team. The LUPSIS leadership team brings decades of combined experience in the Ministry of Natural Resources and is committed to a people-focused culture. All three supervisors promote an inclusive and diverse workplace that values openness, continuous learning, and ongoing improvement. Interested candidates seeking further information can contact Julie Simard at julie.simard@ontario.ca.
We are looking for new team members who are keen to put their skills to work across a challenging portfolio of land use and resource management planning initiatives. Our team helps to deliver the ministry's business by providing planning expertise to a wide range of ministry and external partners and projects. We work closely together to support one another and create a team environment where individuals can thrive and bring their distinct perspectives to the work we do.
About the job
As a regional planner, you will:
• contribute to a team culture that encourages learning, nurtures collaboration, champions inclusivity and is free from discrimination and harassment
• lead multi-disciplinary teams in the review of complex land use and resource management policy or project documents to identify and communicate potential conflicts with ministry objectives
• use project management skills and develop strategies to lead planning teams to deliver land use or resource management planning projects and achieve results
• consult and coordinate input from ministry program specialists, external agencies, and individuals, to synthesize, analyze, present options and make recommendations for decision making
• develop and deliver training to integrated project teams, and staff across the region and provide interpretation, explanation and advice to managers, staff, clients and stakeholders on Crown, municipal and resource management planning and environmental assessment legislation, policy and procedures
• prepare analysis, briefing notes, and Minister's letters for senior management and support issues management to provide excellent customer service for internal and external clients
What you bring to the team
Analytical and problem-solving skills:
You have:
• the ability to review and assess plans (e.g. land use, resource management) and landscape or local level projects to identify risks (e.g. to natural resources), implications and provide advice
• problem-solving skills to prioritize issues, analyze relationships, anticipate obstacles and develop options to resolve land use and resource management challenges, anticipating impacts to Ministry mandated interests
• the ability to analyze and evaluate options to make recommendations to support decision making
Communication skills:
You have:
• well developed oral and written communication skills to develop and deliver training, use plain language to communicate technical information and provide explanations, articulate advice, and guidance
• demonstrated ability to communicate complex ideas clearly and effectively, crafting messages with intended audience in mind
• demonstrated ability to write and prepare planning documents, options, recommendations, briefing materials, corporate correspondence, and responses to public inquiries, to meet the needs of a variety of clients
Coordination and project management skills:
You can:
• plan, organize and coordinate multiple projects and planning processes concurrently
• lead and coordinate teams to attain and produce deliverables, including monitoring progress towards objectives and deliver on accountabilities
• take initiative to proactively identify appropriate actions to achieve results with the consideration of input from program specialists
Interpersonal and collaboration skills:
You have:
• leadership skills to work collaboratively to form inclusive and effective working relationships to support and provide guidance to integrated planning teams, and diverse internal and external clients
• the ability to support and promote team efforts by anticipating and addressing potential obstacles and conflicts and build consensus
• the ability to negotiate, influence and reconcile diverse interests and perspectives of agencies, non-government organizations, clients and the public to gain support for ministry positions or planning issues, on often complicated or sensitive matters
Technical knowledge:
You have:
• demonstrated knowledge of, or ability to learn about Crown and municipal land use planning, resource management planning, project level planning and environmental assessment processes
• knowledge of and ability to interpret and apply legislation, policies, and directives
• demonstrated interest and ability to continuously expand knowledge and subject matter expertise to improve professional effectiveness
• political and organizational awareness, including an understanding of ministry interests and government priorities to inform land and resource management decisions
Don't meet every qualification?
If you are excited about this position and meet most, but not all, of the listed qualifications, please still consider applying. We recognize that no one person might have every qualification in this job ad, and you just might be the right candidate!
How we support diversity, inclusion and accessibility
We are building an inclusive workforce that reflects the communities we serve. We encourage everyone interested in working with us to apply, including people with disabilities, Indigenous, Black and racialized individuals, as well as people from all ethnicities, cultures, sexual orientations, gender identities and gender expressions.
Our hiring process is accessible, consistent with Ontario's
Human Rights Code and the
Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005. We are working to prevent and remove barriers in our hiring processes and can offer
accommodation to address specific needs related to Code-protected grounds such as disability, family status and religion. For more information about accommodation during the hiring process please
contact us.Learn more about the work the OPS is doing to create an inclusive, anti-racist, accessible and diverse workplace: