The size of the Parks Canada protected network was just over 277 square kilometres. Our government will protect an additional 149,000 square kilometres, an area almost eight times the size of Lake Ontario. Within this total, our government has established six new protected areas since 2006, protecting just over 49,000 square kilometres.
This park is being established as part of our commitment to a number of parks which we announced in the throne speech and so on. We are proceeding on those commitments and building on the legacy of the initiatives that we have undertaken since 2006. This is one of the commitments we made through the Speech from the Throne regarding working in partnership with a number of stakeholders in the Northwest Territories.