Thanks, Keith.
We're now on the slide entitled “Conservation agreements--incentives”.
We agree with other presenters that the lack of any concluded section 11 conservation agreements is an enormous missed opportunity, and that they should be utilized. However, we believe that conservation agreements should not, on their own, provide exemptions from the Species at Risk Act. The carefully drafted preconditions for permitting under SARA, such as not jeopardizing survival or recovery of the species, were intended to be the primary safeguard for exemptions. These preconditions must apply to all exempted activities. We do encourage further investigation of the use of conservation agreements in conjunction with permitting.
Now we move on to “compensation”. Similarly, we believe that species at risk and the ecosystems they compose provide important benefits to all Canadians and that no citizen should face an extraordinary burden from protecting them. We recommend, therefore, that government develop regulations to allow for fair and effective compensation in such cases.
Finally, on the last slide, is the recommendation “another review”. We recommend that there be another SARA review in five years, because right now that is not provided for in the act.
Thank you very much for your time. We'd be happy to answer any questions.