Environment Committee on May 5th, 2026

[Andrew Campbell, Interim President and Chief Executive Officer, Parks Canada Agency]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Members of the committee, it's a pleasure to join you to outline Parks Canada's plan and priorities for 2026-27. I would like to begin by recognizing that we are meeting on the unceded traditional territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe people.

I’ll start by highlighting some of the ways Parks Canada supported Canadians over the past year.

Last summer, Canadians were offered free admission to national historic sites, national parks and national conservation areas. This was administered by Parks Canada through the Canada Strong pass. Canadians enthusiastically embraced this opportunity to access affordable and meaningful experiences at iconic cultural and natural heritage sites across our country.

Preliminary figures indicate that Parks Canada welcomed approximately 26 million visitors last year, which was an increase of 13% over 2024. This was the second-highest level of visitation ever, surpassed only in 2017, when free admission encouraged 27 million visits to Parks Canada-administered places as part of the Canada 150 celebrations. This level of visitation underscores the growing importance of Parks Canada places as destinations Canadians cherish and also as engines of economic activity.

As Canada's largest tourism provider, visitation to Parks Canada-administered places contributed an estimated $4 billion to Canada's GDP in communities across the country. With the renewal of the Canada Strong pass, Parks Canada looks forward to welcoming Canadians again this summer with free admission and a 25% discount on camping fees.

I will now turn to Parks Canada's plans and priorities for 2026-27, which are aligned with the Government of Canada's March 31 announcement regarding “A Force of Nature: Canada's Strategy to Protect Nature”. This strategy, as the secretary of state indicated, includes an investment of $3.8 billion over the next five years and $48 million ongoing to accelerate Canada's progress toward protecting 30% of lands and waters in Canada by 2030—restoring critical habitats, strengthening ocean resilience and mobilizing new investments in nature.

Protecting nature is essential for biodiversity and climate resilience. It's also a smart and strategic economic investment. Parks Canada-administered places support roughly 40,000 jobs, $2.4 billion in labour income and $584 million in tax revenue for various levels of government.

These economic benefits are especially important for rural, remote, northern and indigenous communities, where nature-based tourism and conservation jobs provide stable employment and help diversify local economies.

Parks Canada will continue to protect nature this year by advancing negotiations with indigenous partners and provincial and territorial governments to establish new protected areas.

Parks Canada will also continue working toward the designation of new national urban parks across the country to establish a network of accessible green spaces for Canadians in Canada’s urban centres, including Windsor, Saskatoon, and Victoria.

As a recognized leader in conservation, Parks Canada will contribute to the recovery of species at risk. Work in 2026-27 will focus on maintaining ecological integrity through climate and farm planning, species-at-risk recovery actions and collaborative restoration projects that integrate indigenous knowledge.

Parks Canada will also continue to implement its indigenous stewardship policy, which was developed in collaboration with the agency's indigenous stewardship circle. The policy guides our approach to the governance of protected areas, respecting indigenous stewardship for lands, waters and ice, both now and into the future.

This year, Parks Canada will invest in built heritage assets, prioritizing the most urgent repairs, maintenance and safety needs across the places it administers.

These investments are made possible by the $545.1 million in temporary funding provided in budget 2024.

Parks Canada will also continue to broaden the stories that are told about Canada's history. In collaboration with partners, we will promote the nomination of new historical subjects that reflect the diversity of Canada and communities.

Parks Canada-administered places connect Canadians through powerful stories and iconic landscapes, fostering a shared sense of belonging. They're also vital public assets that support healthy communities, resilient ecosystems and a strong, inclusive economy.

Thank you.

I will be happy to answer your questions.

[The Chair, Liberal, Shannon Miedema]

Thank you very much, Mr. Campbell.

We'll begin with our questions from committee members, with Mr. Ross for six minutes.

[Ellis Ross, Conservative, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

It seems that part of the mandate for Parks Canada is to expand and establish new protected areas and improve connectivity to contribute to Canada's 30% conservation target by 2030.

I have experience in this area, as we did set aside lands for conservation back when I was chief in council for my small band, but it was a very unlevel playing field. We wanted to conserve land, of course, for sensitive areas, but money was an incentive, because we didn't have any. We didn't have any money, and there are a lot of first nations in Canada experiencing the same thing. That shouldn't be a glaring incentive, especially when we see that 30 by 30 is a permanent decision. You can't undo it and, kind of like us, you couldn't even get an exemption.

In terms of the expansion of 30 by 30 and the expansion of Parks Canada, what are the measures to ensure it's a level playing field for first nations that don't have the resources otherwise?

[Andrew Campbell]

That's an excellent question. I'll start by answering and then turn to my colleague, Nadine Spence, to also talk about the—

[Ellis Ross, Conservative, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Your answer will suffice.

[Andrew Campbell]

Great. The primary piece that happens when we are doing the establishment process is meeting with local communities and ensuring there is capacity funding for local communities—

[Ellis Ross, Conservative, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Maybe I didn't make myself clear. I'm very familiar with the process. I want to know how you level the playing field without making money a primary incentive.

[Andrew Campbell]

Again, I will start with the fact that we start the establishment process by ensuring there is capacity funding for first nations, for Métis and for Inuit organizations where the area is coming.... In many cases today, we have those communities coming to us, and then we sit down and we look at the capacity funding they have in order to make sure that—

[Ellis Ross, Conservative, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Maybe I can be more clear on my experience. I get the capacity funding, but what it was, really, was forwarding money to us for the long term to protect land, and it was in two pots. One was a finite pot for economic development, which we spent, and the other one was ongoing funding for environmental management from our office, but that actually sterilized the land forever. We tried to go back for exemptions, and we couldn't get them. We're effectively tying the hands of future indigenous leaders.

To go back to my point, I thought it was very unfair to use that for a band that had.... Don't get me wrong. We have a lot of money now. We have forestry money and LNG money. That is not an issue for us now, but when we look back on some of those lands we protected, we can't undo it.

In my eyes, what I'm seeing now is the same formula being used. That will tie the hands of future first nations leaders, who might not see the inventory of opportunity on the land base. I'm talking about energy, mining and forestry. The governments, the ENGOs and the non-profits came to us and promised us the moon on tourism opportunities, and none of them have materialized.

In fact, they all left. They took the money they got from the federal government and the provincial government. They opened up big offices in San Francisco and Vancouver, and we got nothing. In fact, all we got from the provincial government was $15,000 a year to manage protected areas. That example is living right there, right now, under the coast opportunity funds in B.C.

Is there any appetite from the government to ensure this process doesn't happen again?

[Andrew Campbell]

Yes. Absolutely. The Parks Canada indigenous stewardship policy is the piece that ensures that this happens. It ensures co-governance and movement toward co-governance of protected areas that are under Parks Canada's—

[Ellis Ross, Conservative, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Does that include the possibility to exempt or amend those protected areas in the future?

[Andrew Campbell]

Certainly, within all the national parks, although there is permanent protection, there is always a way, through co-governance, to look at what opportunities there are within that protected area to continue to co-govern with the Government of Canada.

[Ellis Ross, Conservative, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Thank you.

You can get back to me on this next question. The overlap issues in B.C. are a mess. It is absolute chaos. It has to do with the treaty negotiations that are going on. It has to do with DRIPA. It has to do with all sorts of different issues happening at the same time. In fact, first nations in B.C. are saying that they will block the highway to Prince Rupert if their overlap issues are not addressed within the B.C. treaty process.

You can get back to the committee on this in writing, if you please. How will you ensure that this is an open, transparent process with all the first nations affected by overlap issues when you plan to expand 30 by 30 initiatives in B.C.?

Madam Chair, I'm tabling a motion that I will move at a future meeting. With my remaining time, I'd like to read it into the record, as follows:

That the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development undertake a study, pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), of at least two meetings, on the environmental and economic impacts of tire recycling and retreading in Canada, with particular attention to low-cost, single-use tire imports; examine their effects on domestic manufacturing, retreading, circular economy goals and waste diversion; consider implications for jobs, competitiveness and supply-chain resilience; and report its findings and recommendations to the House.

[The Chair, Liberal, Shannon Miedema]

Thank you very much, Mr. Ross.

We will now turn to Mr. Malette for six minutes.

[Chris Malette, Liberal, Bay of Quinte, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair. I will be sharing my time with my colleague, Mr. Fanjoy.

My question is directed to Mr. Campbell, I guess, but possibly more directly to Mr. Millar, owing to his purview.

I understand that Parks Canada has committed multiple years of support to studying the feasibility of eradicating such invasive species as water soldier, in particular from part of the Trent-Severn Waterway, which is under active management. For a little clarity, this is in my riding of the Bay of Quinte. It's commendable work, of course, but my one concern is that this work seems to be tightly restricted in areas explicitly within the parameters of the Trent-Severn itself. As some here know, such prolific invasive species as water soldier don't respect jurisdictional lines on a map.

How is Parks Canada as an agency protecting its important investment in dealing with invasives like water soldier, where both federal and provincial authorities must be part of the solution? Are Parks Canada, the Trent-Severn Waterway and other agencies or departments ensuring that collaborative solutions are being supported to drive results on the water in such cases as this? The water soldier issue emanating from the Trent-Severn could eventually wind up at Thousand Islands, for instance, if it gets out of the bay. It's a big issue.

[Andrew Campbell]

I won't take extra time here. I'll turn it over directly to Mr. Millar.

[David Millar, Vice-President, Protected Areas Establishment and Conservation, Parks Canada Agency]

It's an excellent question. As you said, invasive species don't respect jurisdictional boundaries. While we take action on our own lands to try to remove invasive species and control them and monitor for them, we also, as you've alluded to, try to coordinate as much as possible with provincial agencies, conservation authorities and adjacent landowners to have joint and collective approaches wherever we can.

We do it with a range of different types of invasive species. As much as possible, we try to have regionalized plans to say where this might spread from and to, and to have common approaches. Certainly, as you said, it is an area where collaboration is important and where we work as closely as we can with our colleagues in neighbouring jurisdictions.

[Chris Malette, Liberal, Bay of Quinte, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Millar. I appreciate that, because this is a very urgent, all-hands-on-deck thing. We have buy-in from the Province of Ontario right now. For Quinte Conservation, for instance, the federal government has provided funding through student summer jobs so that a good number of students can be on the water trying to mitigate this. The threat is real. I guess I don't really have to outline that for you, but I appreciate the fact that there is a commitment to collaborate on this.

Thank you.

I'll share my time again.

[Bruce Fanjoy, Liberal, Carleton, ON]

Thank you.

I was very encouraged to hear about urban parks. We currently have one official urban park in Canada.

How would municipalities go about putting together proposals to Parks Canada for future urban parks?

[Andrew Campbell]

Thanks. That's an excellent question.

Right now, we have six national urban parks under study across the country. A couple of the first steps will obviously be working with the municipalities and any rights holders, first nations or Métis they have, and then the provinces.

At the moment, we are trying to make sure these are spread across the country. That is a big piece of how we are looking at it. Currently, as I said, we are working on the six we have in front of us.

[Bruce Fanjoy, Liberal, Carleton, ON]

Thank you.

In my riding of Carleton, we're fortunate to have the Rideau Canal National Historic Site. We're updating some of the infrastructure and assets along that treasured park.

Can you update me on that project?

[Andrew Campbell]

Certainly.

We have a number of projects, so I will turn to my colleague Mr. Boucher to give you a further update.

[Patrick Boucher, Vice-President, Real Property and Assets, Parks Canada Agency]

Thank you very much for the question.

Budget 2024 provided Parks Canada with $545.1 million specifically to support investments in capital assets in Canada's national parks, marine conservation areas and national historic sites. This funding has allowed Parks Canada to strategically undertake priority, time-sensitive capital investments and repairs across its portfolio of assets.

Primarily, the focus has been on assets of highest risk. Obviously, waterways are important assets that Parks Canada is a custodian of. We regularly prioritize this with a risk-based approach to make sure we're addressing the infrastructure needs in this portfolio. It's a very complex portfolio, as you can imagine. The replacement value of the overall portfolio is roughly $32.8 billion, so we take that risk-based approach to prioritize certain projects, such as the one you referred to.

[The Chair, Liberal, Shannon Miedema]

Thank you very much, Mr. Fanjoy.

Mr. Bonin, you have the floor for six minutes.

[Patrick Bonin, Bloc, Repentigny, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I'd like to go back to the Canada Strong pass. Quebec has asked for compensation for this program. The Quebec government said that it only found out about the program two weeks before the holiday season and that it was too last minute.

Did the federal government compensate Quebec, which decided not to participate in this program as it considers it to be federal interference?