Budget 2018: A Billion Dollar Investment to Protect Nature in Canada
Stephen Hazell, Director of Conservation and General Counsel
Nature lovers – rejoice: Nature’s protection is taking flight and the 2018 federal budget is an amazing first step!
The recent $1.3 billion investment in new protected areas and in species at risk conservation is a groundbreaking initiative for the entire country, and marks the beginning of the most exciting environmental campaign in Canada over the next five years.
Nature Canada congratulates Finance Minister Morneau, Prime Minister Trudeau, and Environment and Climate Change Minister McKenna on Budget 2018. We think that Canada’s wildlife would also applaud.
Going beyond landscapes, inland waters and oceans, Nature Canada is also pleased that the federal government will invest in protected areas to be established by provincial and Indigenous governments. Providing financial support to Indigenous governments such as the Moose Cree First Nation to protect and manage their sacred places such as the North French watershed is surely an important step toward reconciliation.
Nature conservation is no longer something that is nice to have, it is something Canada needs to have. Even with this federal investment, meeting Canada’s international commitment to protect 17% of our lands and waters by 2020 will be a challenge. Fortunately, Nature Canada, along with provincial and local nature groups, are poised and ready for the next steps.
Nature Canada is Canada’s oldest national nature conservation charity, and is a member of the Green Budget Coalition (GBC). The GBC’s recommendations for the Budget 2018 can be found here.
Working with governments, local and Indigenous communities, and industry, we are ready to take full advantage of the opportunities to protect ecologically important places across the country, whether grasslands in Saskatchewan, Carolinian forests in Ontario, Acadian forests in the Maritimes, or wetlands in British Columbia or Quebec.
Why not send a letter of thanks now to key government officials and remind them of the work needed to protect 17% of our lands and waters by 2020?
To read more on the Budget 2018, please see the following:
- Whales, wings and wetlands, oh my: Feds boost conservation funding in budget, by Geordon Omand for the Ottawa Citizen;
- Budget delivers new conservation fund but avoids climate commitments by Carl Meyer for the National Observer;
- From birds to belugas, feds boost conservation funding in budget by Geordon Omand for the CTV News;
- Budget 2018: Feds commit $500 million to conservation funding by Geordon Omand for Toronto Metro News;
- Watch CBC’s Margo McDiarmid on the Federal Budget;
- Environmental groups pinning hopes on major spending for conservation budget by Margo McDiarmid for CBC News;
- Senators, MPs call for $1.4-billion in conservation funding from federal government by Gloria Galloway for the Globe and Mail.
