Today, the Honourable Catherine McKenna, Minister of Environment and Climate Change, is unveiling an emergency order for the protection of a species at risk—the Western Chorus Frog (Great Lakes / St. Lawrence – Canadian Shield population).
The order,
Today, the Honourable Catherine McKenna, Minister of Environment and Climate Change, is unveiling an emergency order for the protection of a species at risk—the Western Chorus Frog (Great Lakes / St. Lawrence – Canadian Shield population).
The order, made under the Species at Risk Act, will apply in the municipalities of La Prairie, Candiac and Saint-Philippe, in Quebec, and will come into effect on July 17, 2016. The primary purpose of the measure is to prevent the loss or degradation of the habitat the Western Chorus Frog needs to grow and reproduce.
This decision will not impede the development of the public and community infrastructure planned in La Prairie, such as the school or the arena. In addition, of the 1,200 housing units initially planned as part of the Symbiocité project, only 171 will not be built.
“Our government has committed to demonstrating transparency and accountability. We have based our decision on the best available scientific knowledge. We consulted a wide variety of actors at the political and administrative level, notably, the affected municipalities, the Quebec Government, developers and actors in the environmental field. We have also ensured that the socio-economic impacts of the order are kept to a minimum. We firmly believe that economic development and the protection of biodiversity can, and must, go hand in hand.”
“By working together, we can protect and recover species at risk while enhancing our precious biodiversity, in accordance with our commitments under the United Nations Convention on Biological Divers