Thank you to our witnesses.
This is an issue that I know is near and dear to the hearts of everyone in this room, and I don't think for a moment that this should be considered a partisan issue. If anything, this is one of the very few issues in Canada on which we can all say that we agree and we want to do better.
That's the starting point for my comments. In fact, the reason I am sitting here today, and what motivated me to become an environmental lawyer, is my father, who worked for many years at Parks Canada. I really appreciate all the civil servants who are here and who have a similar level of dedication towards conserving our natural areas. To start, I take that as a given.
When I ask questions, I'll be looking for very brief responses. In particular, I would really appreciate undertakings to provide written additional responses. I don't have enough time to get through all the issues I want to get through, and you won't have enough time to answer, so I would really appreciate it if you just simply say that you will provide further responses in writing at a later date.
My first question goes to the 2020 Aichi targets of 17% on the land and 10% on the ocean, which are meant to be a step towards the long-term goal of “living in harmony with nature”. I think we can agree that they're laudable targets. Our government committed to achieving them, but this isn't an end point. This is just a milestone on the way to something much greater. I liken it to trying to get to the moon. We're trying to achieve something much greater.
In fact, last night there was a talk hosted by CPAWS, where they spoke about E. O. Wilson, the pre-eminent American scientist who coined the term “biodiversity” and who is making the case that we need to protect half of the earth, so 17% is clearly just along the way here. He made a statement on similar lines in the joint U.S.-Canada statement at the state dinner and committed to looking substantially beyond the 17% and 10% targets.
My question is, what is being done in each of your departments to get us there, to get us beyond 17% and 10%? What is the plan? I'd appreciate specifically comments from Parks Canada on this orally, but if I could have a written response on that, it would be very helpful.