Thank you, Mr. Chair.
My name is Michael Nadler. On an interim basis, I'm the chief executive officer of Parks Canada. I'm joined by Kevin McNamee, who is the director of protected areas establishment at Parks Canada.
Thank you kindly for the opportunity to speak with you this evening. We know that this is additional to very busy workloads, and we're grateful for the attention paid to our elements of the budget implementation act this evening.
There are three elements of the act that pertain to Parks Canada. With your patience, Kevin and I can speak to all three in fairly rapid succession and take your questions at the end of each section. Two of these involve amendments to the Canada National Parks Act, and one involves an amendment to the Parks Canada Agency Act.
The first change to the Canada National Parks Act will facilitate the establishment of a new national park reserve in the Northwest Territories called Thaidene Nëné. It's located on the east arm of Great Slave Lake. If you imagine Yellowknife and describe a line roughly straight east, you'll bump into a community called Lutsel K'e. This area is near that community and on the lake. It's one of the most amazing places in the country, and we encourage you to visit.
The amendment relating to that national park reserve will describe the boundaries for the national park reserve. Plus, it will provide for the conduct of some activities in the park that support traditional indigenous and northern lifestyles.
The second change to the Canada National Parks Act will adjust the boundaries of two ski areas in Banff National Park. These are the Mount Norquay and Lake Louise ski areas. These boundary changes reflect guidelines for development and use that were negotiated with each operator and were also subject to public consultation, input and environmental impact assessment. Incorporating the boundary changes into schedule 5 of the act will provide the two ski resorts with the business certainty that they need to conduct their operations and make ongoing investments in each of the resorts.
The last item is a change to the Parks Canada Agency Act that will shift Parks Canada from a two-year appropriation cycle to a one-year appropriation cycle. This was actually proposed in budget 2014 but was not legislated. It has come back for budget 2019 and forms part of the budget implementation act for 2019.
Mr. Chair, with your permission, I will turn to Kevin McNamee, who can speak to the first item, which is the Thaidene Nëné national park reserve.