One of my common themes since I've been here is the issue of measurement. If you don't have baseline information, you don't know, Canadians don't know, and members of Parliament don't know if conditions are getting better or worse, if programs are working or not, or if environmental risks are getting higher or lower. So if you don't know the number of habitats and their condition, it's very difficult to see whether or not the stated policy of no net loss and direction toward a net gain is being achieved. Those are quantitative indicators, so without the information, I think your characterization is correct.
On May 26th, 2009. See this statement in context.