Environment committee  Mr. Chair, first I would say that nowhere in the bill do you see “ecological health”. What you will see is “the health of those ecosystems”. I think that is one important point. The second point is that through the management plan, which is a requirement under the bill that's be

Environment committee  Mr. Chair, as an example, I'll read for you the definition of “ecosystem” under the National Marine Conservation Areas Act: “ecosystem” means a dynamic complex of animal, plant and microorganism communities and their non-living environment interacting as a functional unit.

Environment committee  What I would agree with is that in clause 6 of the bill, it goes beyond ecological health. What is being proposed is to protect the “natural ecosystems”, the “cultural landscapes”, “the maintenance of...native wildlife”, and the “health of...ecosystems”. That is what is in the bi

Environment committee  I think it's important for members to understand that the National Parks Act states that the minister shall give “ecological integrity” the “first priority”. That clause was challenged by CPAWS legally against a previous minister, and what the court ruled is basically that there

Environment committee  Mr. Chair, I can't commit the government, but what I will say once again is that the concept of protecting the natural ecosystems and cultural landscapes, and the maintenance of native wildlife is, from where I sit, a pretty simple and basic concept that we can implement. If Parl

Environment committee  For the definition of “ecosystem”, I think there are several of them, and there are some that are very complex. We can provide a list to the committee, but—

Environment committee  I don't think it can be done without.... I think there are different options. If the option is the one that was thought about initially in 1994, I think it's not going to happen without significant impacts on the farming community. There are other options we are looking at that I

Environment committee  I think when you look at the—

Environment committee  It's only in the National Parks Act. For example, the Rouge park preamble is specific to Rouge park. It is a bill for this park only, not a system of urban parks.

Environment committee  I think that is the starting point. The second part of it is that when you look at Banff, as an example, you have close to 6,000 square kilometres of land adjoining Jasper National Park and another 10,000 square kilometres. You can have highways, but when you look at a place tha

Environment committee  I've heard of it, yes.

Environment committee  Our next step is to work hand in hand with the territory to agree on the next step, because we at Parks Canada would not be out there by ourselves. We want to make sure that every step of the process, including public consultation engagement, is done in collaboration with our ter

Environment committee  The Government of Canada has done a land withdrawal to look at the feasibility of establishing this national park. That land withdrawal is still in place, so we are still working with the Government of the NWT.

Environment committee  Mr. Chair, first I'll take a step back to the National Parks Act, because immediately people turn to subsection 8(2), which is the ecological integrity clause. But the real purpose of national parks is not that. It is part of the act, but the dedication clause, which has been the

Environment committee  Mr. Chair, as a result of the devolution to the Northwest Territories, the lands have moved from federal ownership of the lands in the specific area to the territories, so we are working with them. As we do elsewhere where there are provincial governments that have ownership of t