Mr. Speaker, I believe memories are what national parks are all about. I certainly have fond memories of vacations with my parents and brothers. People who approached me when the subject of this bill came up told me stories of their vacations, of sitting on the dock with their father, and the memories they treasure. That is one of the reasons we treasure our parks. There are other reasons that we treasure our parks. They are places to preserve a bit of nature, to preserve biodiversity.
This park in question, which is soon to be known as the Thousand Islands National Park, is no exception. In my earlier speech, I mentioned that in my home riding of Kingston and the Islands, in which a small part of this park finds itself, one day we discovered a wild turkey sitting in my mother's backyard. I did not know that wild turkeys live in Canada but they do, because there are parts of Canada where this biodiversity is preserved.
Why are we considering this bill right now? The reason is that we see an opportunity, in the midst of some cuts to funding for Parks Canada. I wish to acknowledge that my colleague from Leeds—Grenville is very cognizant of the need to look carefully at these cuts and maybe to scale back on some of them to ensure we preserve the benefits of our parks for everybody to enjoy, and for tourists to come to Canada to enjoy. He has been working hard to ensure we are very careful about the cuts we make to Parks Canada. However, it is also be an opportunity to look at how we could move forward, how we could encourage tourism to a park that has a lot of benefits, not only to my riding and my hon. colleague's riding, but to the whole country's economy.
We are considering changing the name to Thousands Islands National Park because Thousand Islands is a name that is recognized far and wide. I remember when we, as a family, vacationed around the country. In the United States, when we explained to people where we lived, we would say we lived right by the Thousand Islands. This is a name that has a lot of recognition around the world, and it is a name we know is very appropriate for this park. It is situated right in the Thousand Islands region. It is a name that is so ingrained in people's minds that they often refer to my riding as Kingston and the Thousand Islands, not by its correct name of Kingston and the Islands.
In committee, we have dealt with the issue of cost and, as my hon. colleague from Leeds—Grenville mentioned, the costs are roughly known. There is a good estimate of what the costs would be, and a lot of that would simply be incurred anyway due to regular maintenance. That has come out in committee, and I am glad we have had the chance to cover that issue.
It would be a marketing opportunity and an opportunity to ensure that all of the resources in our region are used to maximize the economic benefit of our natural environment and the resources we have. This initiative would encourage tourism to the area, support the creation and maintenance of employment in the area, and it would have a very natural economic benefit that we want to promote. I think the member knew about all of this. When I heard of this bill, I phoned some acquaintances who knew about the park and the region, some of them being previous members of the staff.
We confirmed that all the changes made sense and that all stakeholders in the region wanted this change, were aware of the benefits and had an idea of what it would cost and that the cost-benefit analysis was definitely positive.
Now everything has been looked at by the committee, and I am glad that my colleague in the NDP has done her due diligence and is satisfied with the cost of this bill and its benefits and will be supporting this bill at third reading. We can all agree that it would be the right thing to move ahead with this change and rename this park the Thousand Islands National Park, so that people can bring their families to vacation in the Thousand Islands National Park and create memories that they and their kids will carry with them for the rest of their lives, memories we cherish and are part of why national parks are so important to us and our country.
I ask all members of the House to support this bill at third reading.