Madam Speaker, I am very honoured to present a petition from my constituents that focuses on the fact that marine protected areas, and particularly protected areas, for migratory birds are quite critical, and that while the critical wildlife habitat for migration stopovers and overwintering and other critical lifetime essential habitats for migratory birds exist along the areas within and along the Salish Sea, they are not connected. We have a major flyway for migratory birds that operates from Alaska all the way down to Patagonia, and these critically endangered species need more protection.
We have a number of migratory bird sanctuaries, as the petitioners point out, in Victoria harbour, in Shoal harbour and in the Esquimalt lagoon, but there is a significant gap. The petitioners are requesting that the government act with urgency to look at the possibility of creating a new Salish Sea migratory bird sanctuary to connect these areas and protect millions of migratory birds, as well as other key wildlife that use this habitat.