Partnership with Atlantic
Provinces and Ducks Unlimited will conserve
wildlife habitats, create jobs - FREDERICTON,
N.B. -- May 22, 2009 -- Keith Ashfield,
Minister of State (Atlantic Canada Opportunities
Agency) and MP for Fredericton, on behalf
of Canada’s Environment Minister Jim Prentice,
today joined Mac Dunfield from Ducks Unlimited
Canada to announce $3 million in Government
of Canada funding
for the five-year $9 million Atlantic Habitat
Partnership Initiative. This important partnership
is designed to maintain critical infrastructure
to sustain wetlands across Atlantic Canada
in order to conserve habitat for migratory
birds and other wildlife.
“Our funding will help
to ensure the conservation and protection
of a biodiversity of native and migratory
birds and many other types of wildlife in
the Atlantic provinces for many years to
come.” said Minister of State Ashfield.
“Our government’s investment will co-fund
five years of infrastructure construction
projects in wetland areas that will provide
jobs and stimulate local economies.”
The governments of the
four Atlantic provinces are contributing
a total of $3 million, and Ducks Unlimited
Canada is also contributing $3 million,
to this Partnership Initiative.
Environment Canada’s
$3 million investment will assist with construction
activities to upgrade wetland infrastructure
such as dams and fish ladders.
The Atlantic Habitat
Partnership Initiative is designed to maintain
critical infrastructure to sustain 560 water
control pipes and systems, like dams, 150
fish ladders and over 170 kilometres of
dykes on more than 400 square kilometres
of wetlands . Many of the wetlands were
created or maintained over the past 15 years
under the North American Waterfowl Management
Plan and its agent in the Maritimes, the
Eastern Habitat Joint Venture.
The funding announcement
coincided with the International Day for
Biological Diversity, a marker designed
to remind the world of the importance of
conserving global biodiversity.
“Canada’s government
understands that along with climate change,
protecting biodiversity is one of the paramount
environmental challenges of our time, and
is therefore working with diligence and
determination to use our biological resources
more sustainably,” said Minister Prentice.
Of the Atlantic Habitat
Partnership Initiative, Ducks Unlimited
Canada’s executive vice-president Jeff Nelson
said: “This Initiative will enable Ducks
Unlimited Canada to carry out the essential
work of maintaining infrastructures such
as dykes that require periodic reinvestments.
We congratulate the federal government on
its leadership in providing funding to protect
Atlantic Canada’s wetlands. Wetlands provide
many environmental benefits to Canadians
and Ducks Unlimited Canada is pleased to
have this recognized and supported by the
Government of Canada. This significant federal
investment and commitment to this partnership
illustrates that our conservation work is
important. It says that wetlands and the
environment are valued by all Canadians.”
Today’s announcement
is an example of the action the Government
of Canada is taking to protect and preserve
our natural heritage, in cooperation with
our provincial and private partners.
Frédéric Baril
Press Secretary
Office of the Minister of the Environment
+ More
MouldBay Clean-Up Part
of Canada's Economic Action Plan
OTTAWA, Ont. -- May 22, 2009 -- Today, the
Honourable Jim Prentice, Minister of the
Environment, confirmed that the clean-up
of the Mould Bay Weather Station is a proposed
project under the accelerated Federal Contaminated
Sites Action Plan.
"I have asked my
officials to proceed quickly on the clean-up
of this shameful situation that has been
allowed to linger since 2002 - this government
will act where previous governments failed,”
said the Honourable Jim Prentice. “We are
using the investments made in Canada’s Economic
Action Plan to clean up the legacy of contaminated
sites across Canada by accelerating the
assessment and remediation work. Mould Bay
is part of this plan.”
MouldBay is one of hundreds
of assessments projects being proposed under
the accelerated Federal Contaminated Sites
Action Plan, with the goal to complete the
combined Phase II/III assessment by summer
2010, which will lead to the development
of a remedial strategy. Following this work,
the implementation of a remedial strategy
could begin in summer 2011.
The former weather station
was completed in April 1992, and a decision
to close the station was taken by the previous
government in 1997. By 2002, the site was
deemed surplus to the Department’s program
requirements.
Through Canada’s Economic
Action Plan, the federal government aims
to accelerate activities under the existing
Federal Contaminated Sites Action Plan over
the next two years. An additional $80 million
will enable accelerated action on site assessments
and continued program management. This new
funding is also expected to accelerate an
estimated $165 million in environmental
remediation/risk management activity on
priority federal contaminated sites across
Canada.
The full federal contaminated
sites inventory at:
http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/dfrp-rbif/cs-sc/.
Frédéric Baril
Press Secretary
Office of the Minister of the Environment
