One of the key elements of this legislation is to provide a degree of protection for a particular area that would otherwise not be protected for the many years it takes—on average seven—to work through the scientific, regulatory, and consultative process. The idea is that the interim protection we're asking Parliament to enable in this legislation would protect areas deemed to be of very significant biological or ecological importance, while the final process of Governor in Council approvals and consultations under the regulatory process would continue. Obviously the final decision would reflect those consultations and views, and might therefore differ from the interim order.
It's sort of like freezing the footprint, Ms. Jordan. The idea is we'd look back for a year and say that certain practices currently taking place in that particular area that we're seeking to protect in an interim way would be permitted, but we would freeze other practices—additional practices or uses of that particular marine area—because of its ecological and biological significance, and then we would go through the regulatory process.
We're not unscrambling the omelet; we're basically turning the stove off—freezing the footprint. In our view it's the best way to offer the appropriate protection while we go through the full regulatory process, and ultimately the final regulatory decisions would be open to reflecting that consultation.