Environment committee  There are particular national parks and national marine conservation areas that we would like to see created. They're in the process, particularly, the creation of the national park reserve in the south Okanagan and the national marine conservation area in the southern Strait of Georgia and Lancaster Sound.

Environment committee  The IUCN and BirdLife International, as well as other partners, have been working together to develop something called “key biodiversity areas”, or KBAs, which already exist in some ways in terms of the IBAs, or “important biodiversity areas”. This new KBA standard, though, will encompass all biodiversity, and that will be a great starting point towards ensuring that Canada's precious biodiversity will be covered by a protected areas network.

Environment committee  To be frank, it's an issue of money, in many ways, as both Nature Canada and my colleagues at Ducks Unlimited noted in our remarks. The Green Budget Coalition recommended $10 million in this budget and $30 million in subsequent years for national wildlife areas, yet there was no money in the budget.

Environment committee  We don't have an exact figure to give you in terms of the percentage of Canada that we think should be protected. What is crucial is ecosystem integrity, landscape-level protection, along with the network and the integration of various types of protected areas. National parks are the jewel in the crown of Canada's protected areas.

Environment committee  Yes. Nature Canada is part of a coalition of people who are concerned about this transfer, which includes not just Nature Canada, Nature Saskatchewan, and the nature groups, but also ranchers and the Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, which is part of the Canadian Cattlemen's Association.

Environment committee  I think the Aichi targets give urgency to the issue, but I would urge a longer-term, more substantial vision for what Canada could be in terms of protected areas. I think the role of the federal government is one of developing a vision for Canada within international frameworks and on the national stage, but I would urge you to work with the provincial governments and nation-to-nation with indigenous governments.

Environment committee  My colleague will answer.

Environment committee  Thank you, Madam Chair, committee members. Thank you for inviting Nature Canada to speak to the committee. It's an honour to be here. My name is Eleanor Fast, and I am executive director of Nature Canada. I'm joined here today by my colleague Alex MacDonald, senior conservation manager.