Guy Gentner doesn't think much of the views of a former New Democrat premier when it comes to the Southlands.

In a recent interview with the Optimist, the NDP MLA for Delta North made his feelings clear about Mike Harcourt's support for the development proposal put forward by the Century Group for the controversial Tsawwassen property.

"I told him I was very upset with his position. I told him I was very disheartened with his lukewarm endorsation and he's doing the typical Harcourt dance," said Gentner.

"He kind of shepherded an era from the Socreds to the Glen Clark era and there was quite a difference with Glen, who was more action driven, and Mike was, shall we say, a guy more into trying to build consensus."

A couple of months ago, Gentner and NDP agriculture critic Lana Popham attended a forum organized by opponents of Southlands development, promising they'd do what they can to help preserve the property for farming.

Delta South New Democrats attending a BCNDP provincial council meeting earlier this year also received unanimous support for their resolution calling for the preservation of the Southlands.

However, that position runs contrary to what the party's former leader now believes. Harcourt, a senior associate of the Liu Centre for the Studies of Global Issues at the University of B.C., as well as a senior associate with the Sustainable Development Research Institute at UBC, spoke a few weeks ago at the Southlands Spring Fair sponsored by the Century Group.

He talked about his work on the transformation of cities and communities around the world through the principles of sustainability. The Southlands proposal is said to follow many of those principles, focusing on such aspects as new urbanism and agricultural urbanism.

Gentner said he completely disagrees, noting it all runs contrary to the party's position regarding the property.

"In my estimation, the party's position doesn't go far enough. I would have liked to have seen a process in place where there's a mechanism for some of these lands to put them back in the ALR (Agricultural Land Reserve).

"I'm not going out on a limb when I say the developer, proponent, took a risk. The proponent here knew years ago that it was still zoned agriculture and they took the risk and I have no sympathy for somebody who wants to roll the dice and take a chance. I believe in the virtues of maintaining food security here in the Lower Mainland."

A former mayor of Vancouver, Harcourt was B.C.'s premier from 1991 to 1996.

He told the Optimist he's always been an advocate on issues regarding sustainability and quality of life. Decades ago he acted on behalf of the coalition of citizens, community leaders and planners in the successful battle to stop a proposed freeway through downtown. He said throughout his political career, and now well beyond, he has lived by those same beliefs in regards to creating livable, but also sustainable, cities.

Regarding the Southlands, Harcourt said Century Group president Sean Hodgins approached him about ideas for the property.

"I said I wasn't particularly interested in taking farmland out and developing it with McMansion-type housing, huge houses with very low density so that transit wasn't viable and you'd need a car to get everywhere," he said.

"I said, 'If you want to look at what could happen now that a very significant portion of that land has gone over for a regional park, if you're prepared to look at something that would reinforce the Tsawwassen town centre and have some ecological significance and be utilized for innovative agricultural activities, then I'd be willing to talk to you further.'"

Harcourt noted Hodgins had talked to experts and visited places throughout the world, returning with his Southlands concept, which the former premier called innovative.

"The second point I made to him is you have to be transparent and involve the local community in a good community planning process. Well, he's done both," said Harcourt.

"There's controversy about it, as you'd expect, but I think to his credit he's followed the advice I gave him seven years ago.

"I made it really clear that it's up to the people in South Delta and Tsawwassen to see whether this is going to make a healthier town centre and whether it's going to create ecological and environmental advantages, and do some agricultural activities that would be a higher value than just lying fallow or have very low usage."

As far as the criticism leveled against him by Gentner, Harcourt would only reply that they'll agree to disagree.

In 2006, Harcourt chaired the Prime Minister's Advisory Committee for Cities and Communities and co-chaired the National Advisory Committee on the UN-HABITAT World Urban Forum.

The development proposal for the Southlands, which includes 1,900 housing units on one-third of the site as well as small-scale farming on land to be handed over to Delta, was given back to the Century Group by Delta council earlier this year. The reason behind the move is the 538-acre property is within Metro Vancouver's Green Zone and the regional district is still in the process of updating its Livable Region Plan.

Meanwhile, the issue remains a hot topic as a new area plan is being developed.