FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

Tariff responses and nation-building projects cannot be accomplished at the expense of our natural heritage.

Unceded Algonquin Territory — Ottawa, ON | September 10, 2025

Save our economy and our nature from extinction.

Nature Canada, along with our partners at Alberta Wilderness Association, Nature Alberta, BC Nature, Nature New Brunswick, Nature Newfoundland and Labrador, Nature Nova Scotia, and Ontario Nature, are writing to Canada’s First Ministers to express concern over the trend in legislation at the federal and provincial levels of government that is enabling short-term industrial projects to damage Canada’s long-term prosperity and quality of life, by setting aside environmental standards. Such legislation includes the Infrastructure Projects Act in BC, the Protect Ontario by Unleashing Our Economy Act, and the federal Building Canada Act. As our federal and provincial leaders, we are reminding you 89% of respondents to a recent poll agreed that nature is a key part of our identity as Canadians.

“Canadians want their governments to not just protect them from the impacts of tariffs, they also want protections for our clean air and water.” – Julia Laforge, Policy and Campaign Manager for Protected Areas

We are calling on our federal, provincial and territorial governments to follow a mitigation hierarchy of avoid, minimize, restore, and offset by doing the following:

• Effectively implement the 2030 Nature Strategy and maintain our commitments to the international biodiversity targets outlined in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
• Identify, redirect, and eliminate nature-harming subsidies at all levels of government.
• Require project applicants to provide ecosystem services valuations that assess the ecological, social, and cultural value of landscapes that would be affected by their projects.
• Create a requirement that any project proponent that applies to have environmental or nature requirements waived or reduced in any jurisdiction, must first make a binding public declaration of how many Canadian jobs the project would produce and what public revenues it would generate, and that the company and its investors would face legal and financial consequences if the project failed to generate those benefits.

Nature protects our cities from flooding when wetlands soak up heavy rainfalls like sponges. Peatlands and salt marshes sequester carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. In fact, most of Canada’s economic activity comes from nature, including the agricultural, forestry, and fishing sectors. In other words, economic growth and environmental leadership go hand in hand.

Letter to the Prime Minister: Nature builds a stronger Canada

Nature Canada is Canada’s voice for nature. For 85 years, Nature Canada has helped protect nearly 144 million acres of parks and wildlife areas in Canada and countless species. Today, Nature Canada represents a network of over 250,000 members and supporters and more than 1,200 nature organizations.

– 30 –

For more information, contact:

Scott Mullenix
media@naturecanada.ca