Thanks, Anne.
As Anne mentioned, Ontario's invasive species strategic plan has been in development for the last couple of years and we've worked with numerous ministries to develop the strategic plan.
It lays out our primary objectives for managing invasive species and also builds on the fact that there are numerous gaps and weaknesses in the provincial infrastructure, if you will, to manage invasive species. So we've identified several areas of priority focus, including improved leadership and coordination, while being respectful of the roles and responsibilities held by involved agencies. For example, we recognize that our ministry of agriculture and food has a specific role to deal with invasive agricultural plants, but we have a specific role that enables our ministry to deal with aquatic invasive species.
We have also identified legislative policy gaps that will need to be addressed; research and monitoring gaps; science issues; and issues of risk assessment.
As well, there is a need to continue to conduct outreach and engagement to build greater public awareness among our stakeholder communities, our partners, and citizens at large.The single most important thing we can do collectively is to continue to see an educated and aware public that is taking individual action against inadvertently or otherwise moving invasive species or introducing invasive species. Most of the introductions of invasive species we've seen in Canada have been by very well-intentioned and well-meaning citizens who simply failed to understand the impact of some of their actions.