Environment committee  The situation is the same for national marine conservation areas and national parks. Rights have to be respected. Usually, we approach the owners of those rights to buy them back. In some cases, people ask for the market price. In other cases, the rights are simply donated. Elsewhere, it might also be possible to use other tax incentives that are not related to national parks like the Ecological Gifts Program, for instance.

Environment committee  It is usually possible but, at Parks Canada, we do not have access to that information.

Environment committee  In the past, there had been rights inside the area. These have been relinquished by the mining industry to Nature Conservancy of Canada, who transferred them to Parks Canada. Thus, there are no mining rights inside the area. At this time, to my knowledge, there is a moratorium outside that zone and there are no outstanding rights.

Environment committee  Not presently. However, like everywhere in Canada, it still is a possibility in the long term. We shall have to manage an area with the Haida community. When regulations will be passed for the management of that marine conservation area, we will make sure we adopt an approach based on ecological principles.

Environment committee  My answer is in two parts. First, we make sure that there will be no drilling in that special region. This is already a great achievement. In fact, this is what the Haida community has been asking for since the 1980s. So, this is an important achievement. Second, in regards to what is happening outside this area, it is the same as in our national parks.

Environment committee  Different countries are at different levels in terms of standards. I think if you look at Australia, because of their history, they've had several more years in terms of the marine program, so their amount of conservation percentage is greater.

Environment committee  I can answer that part of it. First, we're going to work with the Haida Nation to establish the budget. We have quite a bit of flexibility in our budget for new parks and new national marine conservation areas. We have more than enough left in the budget to ensure that we manage this place effectively and efficiently.

Environment committee  First, thank you very much for being here today. It's a great pleasure and an honour as the CEO of Parks Canada to be here to speak about the legislation or the order in council that's been submitted to your committee. This has been a long overdue process, from a Parks Canada perspective.

Environment committee  I was notified this afternoon.

Environment committee  Maybe an hour ago.

Environment committee  I'm not sure.

Environment committee  That sounds reasonable.

Environment committee  What I can tell you is that in terms of the commitment, in terms of moving forward, and in terms of protected areas for the marine programs, for example, internationally, we are in line; we're moving forward. We have several marine conservation areas that we are currently working on.

Environment committee  Over the last few weeks, there were several announcements made in Quebec. One is the Canal Lachine in Montreal. It's an important asset for Parks Canada and for the community of Montreal. We're working in partnership with the City of Montreal to revitalize the canal. It was a $10-million investment, and the minister announced it a few weeks ago.

Environment committee  This is one of the most challenging but also exciting periods for Parks Canada. As you may know, 2011 will be the centennial of Parks Canada, the world's first national park organization. In the next few years, we will be investing $75 million, as announced in the recent budget, to upgrade the national historic sites owned by Parks Canada.