Thank you for the question.
The cost of protection is higher in the south than it is in the north. The south of Canada is the area with the highest biodiversity value, so that is often an area where we put a lot of our attention.
There are a number of factors that go into a decision to invest in potential protected areas, so there's not one set of criteria. There's a factor analysis, including, most importantly, the collaboration and co-operation with stakeholders. We as a federal government are not, for the most part, owners of the land, so we cannot advance protected areas without the support and close collaboration of the implicated governments and stakeholders in that particular area.