Mr. Speaker, last year the Deputy Prime Minister proposed an endangered species act. She claimed it would help prevent Canadian species from becoming extinct. The difficulty is that the proposal only covered 4 per cent of all of Canada's land and it failed to consider the most important aspect, species habitat. Habitat protection must be the cornerstone of any endangered species legislation. There is no other way.
Last Thursday, 16 new species were added to Canada's growing list of species at risk. Canada's new environment minister wants to make us believe that his government is working toward sustainable development except his words are meaningless unless he can assure Canadians that a new endangered species act will stop further species from becoming extinct.
Today is Earth Day, a day first conceived by environmentalist John McConnell who said that such a day is needed to "celebrate the wonder of life on our planet."
The minister should proceed carefully to preserve the many wonders of life in our country.