Mr. Speaker, the Liberal government has the most dismal environmental record of the past century. In fact the Prime Minister has overseen Canada's worst environmental legislative agenda. His government has not introduced a single environmental initiative in the past seven years.
When it comes to species at risk Canadians want legislation that works. With no environmental bills to its credit, the Liberal government is in no position to deny input from stakeholders offering legislative advice on a plan to protect species at risk. This unprecedented consensus developed by environmentalists and industry stakeholders is known as the species at work working group. The government has ignored its recommendations.
The Progressive Conservative Party supports the recommendations put forward by SARWG and believes the legislation should provide for scientific listing and account for socioeconomic considerations when designing the recovery plan.
In addition, we believe the bill should apply to all lands except where equivalent provincial legislation exists. Equivalency would be negotiated on a species by species basis utilizing the framework—