Speaker: Ms. May
Time: 09/12/2022 12:06:13
Context: Question
Ms. Elizabeth May (Saanich—Gulf Islands, GP): Madam Speaker, I speak to members from Montreal, where the world is gathering for COP15 in a desperate, last-chance effort to save endangered nature. We do not have to look far. We do not even have to look as far as Fairy Creek on Vancouver Island or the threatened caribou habitat in the boreal. Here, on the island of Montreal, the federal government is ignoring the opportunity to protect 215 hectares of highly threatened, important wetland biodiversity, home to the Least Bittern, short-eared owl and monarch butterflies. This is federal jurisdiction.
When will the government act to protect it?
Mr. Terry Duguid (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Lib.): Madam Speaker, I think the member would agree that thousands of species are at risk here at home. One in five species, according to the Wild Species report, are in danger of extinction. There are millions around the world. That is why we are gathered in Montreal to face the biodiversity crisis head on at the UN Biodiversity Conference. We are stepping up to preserve and conserve 30% of our land and waters by 2030, and we hope to inspire the world to do the same.