Environment committee  Very quickly, in the case of the program that was announced in last year's budget, that was actually developed by indigenous people, so it was a proposal that was brought to government on that front. We've been working very closely on the administrative end of that. I think it's

Environment committee  Thank you very much for the question. We are still working on a system plan that will ultimately cover all of Canada's ecoregions. We haven't finished this task, and it won't be done any day now. Unfortunately, a lot of time is needed, but we continue to work on new parks, espec

Environment committee  In the meantime, I will tell you that La Mauricie National Park, about an hour and a half away, is fantastic.

Environment committee  Thank you for the question. We obviously take very close note of the report this committee did on cultural heritage. We're following that very closely. I have a couple of concrete things—no pun intended—on the protection of cultural heritage sites. First and foremost, we are re

Environment committee  Yes, but I can assure that I'm not aware of any authorization my minister has given for drilling off Sable Island National Park Reserve.

Environment committee  Thank you very much for the question. In fact, the latest budget will add nearly 200 FTEs into the science component of Parks Canada, which is a very significant contribution. That will play out in a number of very important ways. When it comes to protection, it's not just the n

Environment committee  I'm not aware of any authority that would allow the minister to approve drilling outside the park. I'm also not aware of any drilling authorizations inside the park. In fact, I'm almost certain that nothing could be described in this way, unless I'm forgetting something. However,

Environment committee  These are obviously excellent programs. There's a long history with similar things the minister spoke to earlier. We do expect to see people on the ground this year in a number of communities as a result of those investments. We expect those to have a particularly strong impact o

Environment committee  I'd add that obviously if you're going to get the types of outcomes we want in protecting species at risk and others, the interconnectivity is critical. Of the investments that are available here, the science component will be critical. It will allow us to work better with all ju

Environment committee  Of course, putting together a national park involves the interests of a whole host of players—provinces, as raised earlier by a previous member, and indigenous groups—but there has been interest in this one for a long time. It has grown a bit recently. Parks Canada remains very i

Environment committee  Parks Canada has approximately 18 billion dollars' worth of built assets that require about two million dollars' worth of work every day, just so we do not end up the next morning behind where we were the morning before. That money will, in a sense, end up in two places. The mone

Environment committee  Sure. There are two points that I would raise in answer to your question. In the first instance, money that comes to Parks Canada comes under a single vote, unlike in many other places where there's a division between capital and operating. Given the issues of occupational heal

Environment committee  We're working very closely with all the provinces and territories. Any opportunities for co-operation there are ones that we will take very seriously. In addition to that, we're doing some unprecedented work with indigenous governments across the country as well, which will also

Environment committee  We've received some correspondence on that. Some challenging decisions are to be made about the structural integrity of different historical pieces. At times we have to make some challenging calls on how best to protect them for the future. I know on this one that the local fiel

Environment committee  I have an answer for that. We have an excellent field unit superintendent by the name of Pam Veinotte, who is here today and would be pleased to get the information to the questioner and to set up a meeting to have a conversation about it.