Bill S-5 (Historical)

Nááts’ihch’oh National Park Reserve Act

An Act to amend the Canada National Parks Act (Nááts’ihch’oh National Park Reserve of Canada)

This enactment amends the Canada National Parks Act to establish Nááts’ihch’oh National Park Reserve of Canada.

Nááts’ihch’oh National Park Reserve Act

[Colin Carrie, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, I stand before the House today to express my unconditional support for Bill S-5, the Nááts’ihch’oh national park reserve act.

Bill S-5 proposes to protect a vast swath of land in Canada's north, nearly 5,000 square kilometres, an area almost the size of Prince Edward Island.

In August 2012, the Prime Minister travelled to the Northwest Territories to join aboriginal leaders in announcing the establishment of Nááts’ihch’oh national park reserve as Canada's 44th national park. The bill would deliver on work started by this government in 2008 and on the commitment of the Prime Minister to protect this area for future generations.

Nááts’ihch’oh national park reserve is a beautiful landscape located in the southwestern region of the Northwest Territories along the Yukon border. This is within the settlement area of the Sahtu Dene and Métis who have travelled, hunted and trapped there. Given its remote location, the land remains largely wild in nature.

The park would protect habitat for a variety of species such as mountain woodland caribou, grizzly bears, Dall sheep, mountain goats and trumpeter swans. During the short summers, the valleys are covered in wildflowers and insects buzz over the thick carpet of moss, grasses and shrubs. It is truly a site to see.

Given its timeless beauty and more importantly how the lands and waters and abundant wildlife have sustained aboriginal people for generations, it is no wonder that our aboriginal peoples have such a deep connection to these lands. An important spiritual place to local Dene people is the mountain that towers above the Moose Ponds on the upper South Nahanni River. The name of the proposed park reserve, Nááts’ihch’oh, celebrates this bond. The word means “pointed like a porcupine quill”, aptly describing the shape of the mountain. The mountain is highly significant to the Sahtu Dene and Métis for its spiritual endowment.

Creating this national park reserve would serve the national interest in several ways. It would preserve a breathtaking landscape for the benefit and enjoyment of future generations. It would create land use certainty that can facilitate investment and economic development for aboriginal and northern Canadians.

Establishing Nááts’ihch’oh national park reserve completes this government's work to significantly expand Nahanni National Park Reserve, which shares its northern boundary with Nááts’ihch’oh, thereby conserving a significant proportion of the South Nahanni River watershed. In short, with the expansion of Nahanni and the creation of Nááts’ihch’oh, this government will have created the third largest national park complex in this country.

These actions build on Canada's strong tradition of international leadership in conservation. Bill S-5 also supports Canada's national conservation plan, which was recently announced by the Prime Minister. The plan contributes to Canada's long-term prosperity by taking concrete action to conserve our nation's lands and waters, restore ecosystems, and connect Canadians to nature.

The creation of Nááts’ihch’oh also supports Canada's northern strategy, a plan to assign the north and northerners a larger role in our country's democracy.

To fully appreciate the importance of the proposed national park reserve, one must first understand the significance of the northern strategy. For generations, Canadians considered the north the land of the future. That future is upon us now. The time has come for Canadians to fully embrace the north and realize the tremendous potential and opportunities it offers. The northern strategy envisions healthy, sustainable lands and vibrant communities of people.

The northern strategy prompts action in four areas: protecting our northern environmental heritage, promoting economic and social development, improving northern governance, and exercising Canada's sovereignty over the north. Since the strategy was launched in 2007, significant progress has been made on each of these important areas. The progress is shown through the conservation of environmentally sensitive waters and lands, such as we are doing with Nááts’ihch’oh.

Additionally, employment and infrastructure in the community of Tulita will support the prosperity of the area with new housing, skills development and training. This is partly because nearly every action taken under the strategy is designed to act as a catalyst. Improvements in governance, for instance, tend to spark economic and social development.

Today, more northern lands are protected from development than at any point in our country's great history.

With the creation of Nááts’ihch’oh, more than 10% of Canada's three northern territories would be protected. It is important to know that is an area about the size of Newfoundland and Labrador. This would ensure the protection of some of our nation's most spectacular scenery, the preservation of unique cultural heritage areas and the provision of unparalleled visitor opportunities to explore these lands and cultures.

There are more job and training opportunities than ever before, creating more economic prosperity in our northern lands, and northerners have a greater say in the decisions that affect them most. The legislation before us would further push this process along and inspire direct progress in three of the northern strategy's four policy areas.

The establishment of Nááts’ihch’oh national park reserve would contribute significantly to environmental protection. With the addition of Nááts’ihch’oh, more than 86% of the South Nahanni watershed would be protected. The combined Nahanni–Nááts’ihch’oh park complex would include a habitat that would protect up to 600 grizzly bears, which is nine times greater than the number of grizzly bears protected within Banff, Canada's first national park. What a legacy for Canada's future generations.

The establishment of Nááts’ihch’oh would promote social and economic development, another component of the northern strategy. Nature lovers and adventurers from across the country and around the world appreciate the remarkable beauty of Canada's north, and many can be expected to travel to Nááts’ihch’oh to experience its spectacular landscapes, flora and fauna. The park headquarters and visitor centre would be established in the community of Tulita, generating job and training opportunities and the economic benefits of new infrastructure projects.

Establishing the park reserve would also trigger direct infusions of resources. For example, during the first five years of the park's operation, Parks Canada would invest nearly $3 million to build offices, a visitor centre and staff accommodation. It would have an annual operating budget of $1.2 million. For a town of only a few hundred people, this is a significant investment that would open the door to a number of additional opportunities. Northerners would also have an active role in managing the new park reserve, which would help build capacity and strengthen northern governance.

An impact and benefit plan, negotiated by Parks Canada and the Sahtu Dene and Métis who live near Nááts’ihch’oh would provide for the collaborative management of the national park reserve by a committee composed of representatives of Parks Canada and the Sahtu Dene and Métis, fulfilling requirements of the Sahtu Dene and Métis land claim agreement. As a result, northerners would have greater control over their lands, an essential component of sound governance.

Parks Canada partners with aboriginal peoples to establish, manage and protect lands and ensure that ancient traditions and harvesting customs such as hunting, trapping and fishing, continue. In fact, formal agreements with aboriginal peoples contribute to the effective stewardship of nearly 70% of all Parks Canada's lands.

Parks Canada maintains effective relationships with more than 130 aboriginal groups across Canada through a broad spectrum of mechanisms and agreements. Establishing the Nááts’ihch’oh park reserve would further this modern, progressive and inclusive vision of the north, particularly to southern and international audiences. It would protect our culture and natural heritage and help sustain communities and develop leaders in our north. There can be absolutely no doubt that rapid change is under way in the north.

The important question that we must ask ourselves is this. How can we influence the course of change to benefit northerners and Canadians for both the present and future generations?

The bill is a concrete example of the action we are taking within the northern strategy, which proposes a responsible approach to development that balances environmental protection with social and economic development, empowers northerners and exercises Canada's sovereignty in the north.

Protecting large representative natural regions while encouraging a diverse economy in the north is a crucial part of this strategy and is the centrepiece of the creation of this new national park reserve. Doing so creates jobs and raises awareness of the spectacular yet fragile ecosystems and the age-old cultures that comprise the rich heritage of our north. In these places, there is a palpable sense of harmony. Everything around us is connected and we are connected to everything around us.

I encourage members to bear this connection in mind as we discuss the proposed legislation. There is enormous potential that can be achieved through this bill, such as protecting the environment, creating jobs, and ensuring that our north stays beautiful for future generations.

Although thousands of kilometres separate us from Nááts’ihch’oh, we must recognize its considerable value and power as a national park reserve. I urge everyone to join me in support of the legislation now before us.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Centre-North, AB]

moved that Bill S-5, An Act to amend the Canada National Parks Act (Nááts’ihch’oh National Park Reserve of Canada), be read the second time and referred to a committee.

Business of the House

[Peter Van Loan, Conservative, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have an opportunity to respond to my colleague. On the question of question period, as I have observed before, the tone of question period is overwhelmingly determined by the tenor of the questions asked.

There was a very worthwhile letter to the editor in The Globe and Mail yesterday on exactly that subject from a gentleman from Halifax, which I was most appreciative of. I am sure that if the members of the opposition take heed of that, we will see very high-quality question periods in the future.

In terms of the business of the House, for the balance of today, we will be continuing forward on the Nááts’ihch’oh national park reserve act, Bill S-5. Tomorrow, it is our intention to complete the last day of Bill C-36. This is the bill to respond to the court's decision. The court has set a deadline for us in December, and we do want to respond to that. We will be proceeding with other matters on the order paper through the following week.

I do intend to identify Tuesday as an additional allotted day. I believe that it will be an opportunity for the NDP once again.

We have had some discussion in the House of the importance of the potential matter of the mission that is under way in combatting the ISIL terrorist threat right now. There is the potential for the schedule that I have laid out to be interrupted at some point in time by the need for a motion of the House, should there be a decision by the government to proceed with a combat mission.

I do not believe that I reported to the House exactly what we are going to be doing on Monday. On Monday, we will deal with Bill S-4, the digital privacy act, and Bill C-21, the red tape reduction act.

[Peter Van Loan, Conservative, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, on the question of missing and murdered aboriginal women, I was pleased that last night the House of Commons had an opportunity to vote to concur with the excellent work in the report done by the committee of parliamentarians that examined that issue, one of well over two dozen such studies that have been undertaken on the subject. They have been helpful in forming the government's action plan that is taking place to help address this problem and help to improve the conditions of aboriginal women on reserve and elsewhere.

In terms of the government's agenda, this afternoon we will continue the second reading of Bill C-41, the Canada-Korea economic growth and prosperity act. This important bill would implement our landmark free trade agreement with South Korea, Canada's first in the Asia-Pacific region, I might add. It would provide expanded access for Canada's businesses and workers to a growing G20 economy, Asia's fourth largest.

Free trade with South Korea is projected to create thousands of jobs for hard-working Canadians by boosting Canada's economy by almost $2 billion annually and increasing our exports to South Korea by almost one-third.

That debate will continue next week, on Tuesday.

Tomorrow, Mr. Speaker, will see the conclusion of the report stage of Bill C-36, the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act. The House will recall that we are working to implement this legislation before the Supreme Court’s decision in Bedford takes effect before Christmas.

Monday shall be the third allotted day, with the New Democrats choosing the topic of discussion.

I am designating Monday as the day appointed pursuant to Standing Order 66.2 for the conclusion of the debate on the first report of the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics.

On Wednesday, the House will return to the report stage debate on Bill C-13, the protecting Canadians from online crime legislation.

Thursday morning should see the end of the third reading debate on Bill C-8, the combating counterfeit products act. Then we will resume the second reading debate on Bill C-40, the important bill to establish the Rouge national urban park. After question period we will start the second reading debate on Bill S-5, which would also, in a similar vein, create the Nááts’ihch’oh national park reserve.

Friday will be set aside for third reading of Bill C-36.

[Peter Van Loan, Conservative, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, after this proceeding, we will start the second reading debate on Bill C-21, the Red Tape Reduction Act. I know that my hon. friend, the President of the Treasury Board—a man with firm views on paper documents—is very keen to get this debate started.

Tonight, after private members' hour, the House will resume the third reading debate on Bill C-8, the Combating Counterfeit Products Act. Once that is done, I look forward to picking up where we left off this morning with second reading of two bills to create new parks: Bill C-40, An Act respecting the Rouge National Urban Park, in the greater Toronto area, and Bill S-5, which will establish a new national park reserve in the Northwest Territories.

If we have time left before midnight, we will continue debating Bill C-35, the justice for animals in service act (Quanto's Law); Bill C-26, the tougher penalties for child predators act; Bill C-3, the safeguarding Canada's seas and skies act; and Bill C-21 if we do not finish that by 5:30 today.

Tomorrow will be the sixth and final day of second reading debate on Bill C-32, the victims bill of rights act, a bill that, despite lengthy debate, all parties agree should be studied by our hard-working justice committee.

However, the highlight of this week will of course come later this afternoon. The Usher of the Black Rod will knock on the door and summon us to attend the Governor General in the Senate chamber where, with the three constituent elements of Parliament assembled, we will participate in the ancient ceremony of royal assent.

Based on messages read from the other place, and messages I anticipate later this afternoon, 14 new laws will be made upon His Excellency's imperceptible, or barely perceptible, nod. This will mark a total of 25 bills passing through the entire legislative process since October's Speech from the Throne. Of these, 20% are private members' bills, further underscoring the unprecedented empowerment of members of Parliament under this Prime Minister's government.

Speaking of the time passing since October, we are also marking the end of the academic year. This means the end of the time with this year's fine class of pages. Here I know that some in the chattering classes have concerns about the length of my weekly business statements, but I hope they will forgive mine today.

As we all know, the pages work extremely hard and do some incredible work, both in the chamber and in the lobbies. They perform many important duties, which in some cases go unnoticed, or at least so they think so. They show up before the House opens each morning and stay until after it closes at night. We all know that over the past few weeks, it has meant much longer days than usual, but even then, the pages have remained professional, respectful, and have started each day with a smile, and ended it with one too, although that occasionally required a bit of encouragement on my part.

I would first off like to thank them for their service. Without them and their support, members of Parliament would not be nearly as effective and efficient in performing the duties that Canadians sent us to Ottawa to undertake.

I do have some insight from being married to a former page, from the class of '87 actually, and she often refers to her year as a page as the best year of her life. Here I can say that the experiences the pages have had at the House of Commons is something they will remember for the rest of their lives.

In addition, I know that in my wife's case, some of the friends she made in the page program are still good friends to this day, including, in fact, the chief of staff to the current leader of the Liberal Party. I hope that will be the same for all of you, that is being friends for life—not that other thing.

I am sure that the pages are looking forward to the summer break so they can all take their minds off of school and visit with friends and family to share their many stories and experiences, some of which are even funny, with us here in the House. I will not be surprised one day if we find some of them occupying seats in this chamber, something that happened for the first time in this Parliament with the hon. members for Etobicoke—Lakeshore and Mississauga—Brampton South, both having been elected to sit here in this Parliament.

Some of the pages may also find employment on Parliament Hill working for members, and I know that I have, without fail, been impressed by the high calibre of ambitious young people who have worked in my office during stints as page.

Over the past three years, the House has worked in a productive, orderly, and hard-working manner, and this has not been possible without the help of the pages. I believe it is safe to say that I speak on behalf of all members of the House when I thank them for their dedication and service, and finally, give them our best wishes for success in all their future endeavours.

Rouge National Urban Park Act

[John McKay, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood, ON]

Mr. Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to enter into this debate. In the interests of full disclosure, Rouge Park is very close to my riding as well, and I have taken my children and my grandchildren through the park from time to time, both in winter and summer. So I am quite familiar with this piece of real estate and am very pleased to see that we have moved to the point of presenting legislation. But in typical fashion, the government seems to have a talent for taking good news and turning it into bad news.

I suppose it is only coincidental that after the northern gateway decision, we are now debating two park bills, the first with respect to Rouge Park and the second with respect to a park up in the Northwest Territories. It is only coincidental that the announcement about northern gateway and the discussion about parks happens almost sequentially. It has nothing to do with trying to burnish the environmental creds of the government.

Before I go too much further, I want to acknowledge the 25-year effort by my colleague, Derek Lee, in conjunction with Pauline Browes, in advocating on the floor of the House for the park and the reservation of these lands, along with a number of citizens groups, Friends of the Rouge, Save the Rouge, WWF, COSCA, and of course the patron saint of the park, Lois James. I am certain that I have left out a number of NGOs and individuals who have been very important to why we are here today. Regrettably, they do not seem to be as involved in the potential management plan as they possibly should be, and I hope that once the dust settles here, the officials will think it over and see their way clear to incorporate them into the park management plan.

The interesting part of this proposal is that according to the bill itself, what is actually being incorporated into the park are three little pieces of property in Markham. When asked about this at the briefing yesterday, the Conservatives say they are actually in negotiation with three or four levels of government, a variety of conservation authorities, et cetera. But the way it is being presented by the parliamentary secretary and others is that this is 58 square kilometres. Actually it is not 58 square kilometres; it is about two or three acres. By the time the bill actually receives royal assent, it will still be two or three acres and the negotiations will have yet to be completed.

Why is this a concern? First of all, the Government of Canada can unilaterally transfer from the Department of Transport the lands under its control, but for whatever reason, it has not included those lands in this bill or in the schedule that would be attached to the bill. In addition, there are other airport lands that apparently might possibly be under negotiations and that are not included in the bill. Instead of 58 square kilometres, some people would like to see 100 square kilometres, going all the way up to the Oak Ridges Moraine, in order to protect a corridor for wildlife, et cetera.

It is in some respects, as far as a presentation of a piece of land is concerned, much less than what it appears. Take note of the contrast between the bill for the park in the Northwest Territories, whose name I dare not pronounce for fear of offending someone, and this bill. Half the bill, six or seven pages, actually goes to a metes and bounds description of the park itself. That is normally the way a park bill is presented. Bill S-5 is a proper presentation.

In terms of the schedule of the land being presented, the actual amounts are far less, and there is no guarantee that the lands in the presentation by the parliamentary secretary are in fact the lands that will be transferred.

There are two reasons for this. First, negotiations are negotiations and they may go somewhere differently than the government hopes they will. Second, there is no presentation of a plan for ecological protection. That is worth drawing attention to, because in normal park bills we have a specific clause in each and every bill. The specific clause says:

...a set of ecological integrity objectives and indicators and provisions for resource protection and restoration, zoning, visitor use, public awareness and performance evaluation, which shall be tabled in each House of Parliament.

There is no such inclusion in the clause. When I asked the officials yesterday why it was not in there, their reason was that this was a unique park. The reasoning actually does have some sense to it. As others have pointed out, Highway 401 goes over the park, as does Highway 2, and so do Steeles Avenue and Taunton Road, and there is also a huge hydro corridor through the park. Therefore, we cannot set up ecological metrics to evaluate the ecological performance of the park. What we are left with is a very vague clause in paragraph 6 of the bill. It states:

The Minister must, in the management of the Park, take into consideration the protection of its natural ecosystems and cultural landscapes and the maintenance of its native wildlife and of the health of those ecosystems.

“Take into consideration” is not a plan. Let me just sketch a scenario. The minister goes to the Province of Ontario and says, “We would like your thousand acres, or two thousand acres”—or whatever the number is—“and we want to know how you're going to manage this plan and this park”. The minister says, “Trust me.“ Well, “trust me” does not cut it.

As far as I and anyone else in the House know, including the parliamentary secretary or the minister, we do not actually know how this park is going to be managed. If I am the Province of Ontario, or the Town of Markham, or the City of Toronto, I am going to be asking that rather fundamental question. I would say: “No plan, no transfer”. I rather hope that it does not get held up on that. I hope there is a plan. I hope the ecological and cultural integrity of the park would be protected. However, “trust me” is not exactly a great answer when one is asking for thousands and thousands of acres to be transferred, which according to the government's numbers are supposed to amount to 58 square kilometres.

If in fact the government had some ecological or environmental integrity, one might actually say, “Okay, trust us. We will have a plan and we will fulfill this”. However, as we know, the government's environmental credibility is as about as rock bottom as rock bottom can be, so “trust me” is not exactly an answer when we are asking other levels of government to transfer thousands of acres to the park for what would otherwise be a very supportable proposition.

Again, why is this of greater concern? As others have alluded to, in the park there is what is called mono-cultural or industrial farming, and some of those farming practices are in clear contradistinction to proper park management functions. One might say “Well, let's not worry about that, because we'll make sure, as we renew each lease and try to move it up to market value, that in fact we will assure the best farming practices”. When I raised that question yesterday, one of the members of the Conservative Party dismissed the concerns about neonicatoids. Frankly, that stuff is of concern. Here we have Environment Canada and Parks Canada managing farms in the park, which should be held to the highest possible standards, to the best science we have available for farming practices.

The member just dismissed it: “I do not give a hoot about the bees. I do not give a hoot about the watershed. I do not give a hoot about the hiring practices. Just get my constituents the cheapest possible land for the longest period of time.” It does not inspire—

Nááts’ihch’oh National Park Reserve Act

[Tim Uppal, Conservative, Edmonton—Sherwood Park, AB]

moved that Bill S-5, An Act to amend the Canada National Parks Act (Nááts’ihch’oh National Park Reserve of Canada), be read the first time.

(Motion agreed to and bill read the first time)

Message from the Senate

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

I have the honour to inform the House that a message has been received from the Senate informing this House that it has passed the following bill, to which the concurrence of the House is desired: BillS-5, An Act to amend the Canada National Parks Act (Nááts’ihch’oh National Park Reserve of Canada).

[Leona Aglukkaq, Conservative, Nunavut, NU]

Thank you.

Under the budget, as part of the national conservation plan, of course, we're committed to conserving our natural heritage. That includes the creation of national parks such as the Nááts’ihch’oh park, which is now being debated in the Senate, and the Bathurst Island and Mealy Mountains parks. The creation of the new national parks is funded through a specific budget allocation. For example, budget 2012 is a source of funds for the new Bathurst Island and Mealy Mountains parks' budgets. They're all incorporated.

In expanding our world-class national park system, our government provides Parks Canada the necessary funds to establish, develop, and operate new national parks. Since 2006, our government has protected 50,000 square kilometres of natural areas in Parks Canada's system. On May 14, Bill S-5 was tabled in the Senate on the Nááts’ihch’oh park, which is again one example of our commitment to protecting our areas. We'll continue to make investments in park development nationally.

Thank you.