A federal law should be enacted to stop developers from putting up new subdivisions on private land in Gatineau Park, says an Ottawa MP.

Paul Dewar, the NDP MP for Ottawa Centre, said Tuesday the park must be protected from projects within its boundaries such as an 18-house development soon to be built on Carman Road in Chelsea, Que.

The 36,000-hectare park is the responsibility of the National Capital Commission, the Crown corporation that manages federal lands and buildings in the Ottawa-Gatineau region.

"The longer you wait to bring in protection for Gatineau Park, more land will be put up for sale and then the NCC will be put in a position to have to try and buy that land up to protect the park," Dewar said.

"What we need is legislation to protect the park. This will go on forever if we continue to just wait for compromises to happen."

The land within the park boundaries is mostly owned by the NCC. The Quebec government has a minority stake and about two per cent is held by private landowners.

Dewar's comments came a day after Chelsea residents visited their municipal council to raise concerns about the Carman Road development.

A spokesperson for Lawrence Cannon, the minister responsible for the National Capital Commission, said the government is aware of the situation and decisions will be made in due course.

In May 2006, Dewar introduced a private member's bill in the House of Commons that would explicitly make acquiring privately and provincially owned property in Gatineau Park one of the "objectives and purposes" of the National Capital Commission.

The bill would also require the owners of property in Gatineau Park to offer the properties to the NCC before other buyers.

The bill has gone through its first reading.