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The federal government’s environmental watchdog — the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development, Scott Vaughan -- released a report suggesting that Canada has a long way to go to protect our coastal ecosystems and oceans.
His report questions why Canada has only protected one per cent of our oceans, and cautions that we won’t meet our commitment to protect 10 percent of our oceans for decades to come unless we take action now.
Meanwhile, Australia and the United States are well on their way to meeting ocean conservation goals (at 40 and 8 percent respectively)
In short, it’s a lot of talk and little action.
Canada’s 243,000-kilometre coastline provides employment for over 315,000 and contributes more than $26 billion annually to Canada’s economy. It makes good fiscal sense to take care of an asset this big and productive. Unfortunately, we aren’t doing that.
Through successive and consistent funding cuts, the government of Canada is failing to acknowledge the liabilities created from overuse and under-investment in our oceans.
Please tell the federal government that we’ve talked long enough. It’s time to start funding a program to establish marine protected areas and ensure Canada’s oceans are healthy now and into the future.
