Environment committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair and members of the committee. I very much appreciate the opportunity to speak with you today about habitat conservation. I've been engaged in this area for many years, much of my 35-year career in the public service, and it's interesting to see how

Environment committee  I'm just thinking about the questions and the concerns I hear as we attempt to do habitat conservation. A range of issues are cited. Sometimes it's simply good information on what to do and how to manage the lands in the natural areas that already exist on private lands. Other ti

Environment committee  I haven't studied recent changes in the global agricultural marketplace and how that might affect decisions that individual landowners are making, but as to how they use their land, perhaps a witness could be invited who could speak more to that. I definitely think agriculture

Environment committee  I think there are two levels to the response I would provide. Under the Convention on Biological Diversity, there is a globally recognized definition for biodiversity that includes ecosystems, species, genetic diversity, and, importantly, sustainable use of biodiversity. That's a

Environment committee  I would begin by noting that we are still in the process of consulting and developing a set of national goals, targets, and indicators for biodiversity. The 17% that's referenced relates to a decision taken in 2010. There are targets called the Aichi targets, under the Convention

Environment committee  I'm not going to speculate on how quickly the country can move to achieve the 17%. There are a number of partners working together to add additional protected areas to what's protected in Canada already.

Environment committee  The legislation to which you refer mentions a number of different kinds of agreements that can be concluded. I spoke about stewardship. I think the more important agreements that aren't necessarily directly referenced in the legislation relate to the habitat stewardship program I

Environment committee  With our national wildlife areas in the province of Quebec, we definitely have several “friends of” the national wildlife areas. We operate the agreements to which you refer on a cost-recovery basis, so the funding is aligned with the level of activity that's happening within the

Environment committee  Yes, it is. The additional comment that perhaps I should have made is that we have a different management objective with our protected areas system. Parks Canada is very much focused on the public aspect. We certainly have our national wildlife areas open to the public, but we m

Environment committee  Yes.

Environment committee  I'm alluding to several things. The first step in making information available to people is actually putting into a database information on where the species are and the kind of habitat a species might be using. We need more sophisticated systems, and technology is going to help

Environment committee  Yes.

Environment committee  The council is made up of federal, provincial, and territorial agencies responsible for the management of protected areas. It includes both representatives from national parks and provincial parks, but also other systems, such as ecological reserves in the province of British Col

Environment committee  Yes.

Environment committee  The plan is very active in Ontario. There's something we call the Eastern Habitat Joint Venture that covers from Ontario east. Within Ontario there is the North American Waterfowl Management Plan Committee of federal, provincial, and non-government organizations. Ducks Unlimited