Again, it's the first of its kind in Canada. We introduced on May 15, the national conservation plan. I also want to thank the environment committee for the study that has been done around this idea. Many of the ideas came from the working of this committee as well, so thank you for that.
To launch the initiative, the national conservation plan, on May 15 the Prime Minister announced the plan in Fredericton. The government, to launch this initiative, is investing $252 million over the next five years in the plan in order to advance the work in the three priority areas that have been identified under the national conservation plan—to conserve Canada's land and waters, restoring Canada's ecosystem, and connecting Canadians to nature.
The plan itself builds on the existing successful efforts across the country of many organizations. The conservation-related investments announced in budget 2014, including the conserving of recreational fisheries, as an example, and supporting family-oriented conservation activities, have also been incorporated in that. Many of the initiatives identified celebrate the work of many Canadian stakeholders and new partnership opportunities as well, but bring it under one envelope so that we all work together in our collective efforts to deal with protecting our environment. The investment in this budget of $252 million will be used to launch that plan this year.