过去一年中，联邦政府忽略几千加拿大人，106位国会议员，安大略省政府以及加拿大几所顶级环保机构的建议，匆忙通过有严重漏洞的红河国家城市公园法案(Rouge National Urban Park Act)。加拿大园林局前任首席科学家Stephen Woodley也公开指出红河国家城市公园法案达不到城市或郊野自然保护区的环境标准。
国家公园本应达到或超出省立环境标准，由于红河国家城市公园法案保护不足，安省政府目前不同意属于省政府的土地转让联邦政府，列入该公园范围。若不包括省府的土地﹐联邦政府设立的是个“假”公园﹐连原定面积的一半都没有。
士嘉堡-红河区国会议员贺佩珈(Rathika Sitsabaiesan)听取民众和专家建议，为此在国会提出私人议员提案，旨在修改严重漏洞的红河国家城市公园法案：
1.重点保护和恢复生态完整性以及水系健康；
2.尊重省立森林自然生态走廊，红河公园，红河水系(Rouge Watershed)，橡树岭冰碛层(Oak Ridges Moraine)，《大湖区水质协议》(Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement)的条例和宗旨；
3.包括公众谘询，科学公园管理；
4.支持公园中健康可持续的农耕。
希望加拿大国会能够通过以上提案，给予自然保护区和国家公园应有的环境保护。
Senate committee rejects all amendments to Rouge National Urban Park Act
Leading environmental conservation groups in the province stand by Ontario’s decision to not transfer provincially controlled lands to the federal government for the proposed Rouge National Urban Park until environmental safeguards are improved.
The groups had hoped that the Senate Committee would amend the draft park law to prioritize nature conservation and meet international standards for a protected area but this did not happen today.
The bill fails to meet the fundamental requirement that a protected area must prioritize nature conservation as laid out in international standards, and fails to meet or exceed the environmental policies of the existing Greenbelt, Oak Ridges Moraine and Rouge Park Plans. The flawed Rouge National Urban Park Act represents a missed opportunity to effectively protect an ecological treasure for Canadians today and in the future.
As a result, the groups support the province’s position that it cannot transfer its substantial Rouge Park lands (approximately 25 km2) to Parks Canada unless these changes are made. Unfortunately, as a result the new Rouge National Urban Park may be less than half the park’s announced size, will not include the beautiful Rouge Valley system and will not be connected to Lake Ontario.
The groups will continue to work with the province to ensure the Rouge lands under its jurisdiction are well-protected; work cooperatively with farmers on solutions; and to encourage the federal government to strengthen the law to enable all lands to be transferred to the Rouge National Urban Park, and fulfil the promise of protecting this natural treasure, now and in the future.
The groups issuing this statement are: Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society–Wildlands League, David Suzuki Foundation, Environmental Defence, Friends of the Rouge Watershed and Ontario Nature.
Backgrounder:
More than 100 km2 of publicly -owned lands surround the Rouge River and Duffins Creek watersheds in Toronto, Markham, Pickering and Uxbridge. These publicly-owned lands are predominantly designated Provincial Greenbelt “Natural Heritage System” and they are:
•home to the endangered Carolinian forest and mixed-woodland plain life zones of Canada, zones with 1/3 of Canada’s endangered species;
•the ancestral home of Mississauga, Huron Wendat and other First Nations;
•the last chance to create a large national park in southern Ontario, – an area with 1/3 of Canada’s population, 3/4 of its land in agriculture and human settlement uses, and only 1/400th of its land protected in National Parks.
Rouge Park was created between 1990 and 1995 by the Province of Ontario and it has gradually grown to include approximately 40 km2 of provincial, municipal and conservation authority public lands. Over the last three decades, thousands of people have contributed to Rouge Park, Oak Ridges Moraine (ORM), Ontario Greenbelt and Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (GLWQA) Plans to protect, restore and enhance ecological integrity and watershed health.
These Plans and policies represent a huge investment of public time, land, money and consultation. The vast majority of Ontario residents support these Plans and policies.
On January 26, 2013, Ontario and Canada signed an Agreement for the transfer of Provincial Rouge Park lands to Parks Canada to create a Rouge National Urban Park area of approximately 57 km2 through the addition of approximately 18 km2 of Federal public lands in north Markham. The Agreement states:
“Parks Canada will work with Ontario to develop written policies in respect of the creation, management and administration of the Park that meet or exceed provincial policies … including the policies set out in the Greenbelt Plan, the ORM Conservation Plan …
Unfortunately, the existing Rouge National Urban Park Act fails to meet this required condition for the provincial land transfer. Existing provincial policies prioritize the protection and restoration of ecological integrity and watershed health. The Rouge National Urban Park Act (Bill C-40) merely “takes into consideration the natural ecosystem”, providing little, if any, real environmental protection or direction.
The serious flaws in the current Rouge National Urban Park Act include:
•failing to prioritize the protection and restoration of ecological integrity and watershed health;
•failing to “meet or exceed” existing Ontario Greenbelt, Rouge Park and Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Plans and policies;
•failing to respect Environment Canada’s science-based recommendations for improving ecological integrity, watershed health and Great Lakes water quality;
•creating a 2 km2 park – less than 1/25th the proposed park size and 1/50th the potential park size.
