Bill C-465 An Act to amend the National Capital Act (Gatineau Park) November 8th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to introduce my bill to protect Gatineau Park, and I thank the member for Pontiac for supporting its introduction.
Gatineau park's size, beauty and importance make it a real national treasure. It is one of the most visited parks in Canada, yet it does not currently benefit from protections that would allow us to ensure it will be preserved for future generations.
My bill would fix that by making some amendments to the National Capital Act. It would enshrine the park's boundaries in the act, give these boundaries parliamentary protection and prohibit the sale of public lands located within the park.
If we want to leave a healthy park to future generations that looks like the park we know today, we must take action now. I urge all members of all of the parties represented in the House to support my bill at second reading.
http://www.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?Language=F&Mode=1&DocId=5834121&File=24#1
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Press Release – Communiqué de presse
CPAWS Ottawa Valley congratulates Hull-Aylmer MP for introducing Bill to protect Gatineau Park - Ottawa – November 8, 2012 – Today, the Ottawa Valley Chapter of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness
S
ociety (CPAWS-OV) congratulates Hull-Aylmer MP, Nycole Turmel, for following through with her campaign promise by introducing a Private Member’s Bill in the House of Commons to protect Gatineau Park.
As recent assaults on Gatineau Park’s ecological integrity – including the construction of yet another house at Meech Lake and the extension of Highway 5 near Wakefield – illustrate, strong legislation is long overdue. CPAWS-OV is calling on all parties in the House of Commons to support this legislation, much as they did when a Bill to expand Nahanni National Park was passed with broad support.
While MP Turmel’s Bill stops short of creating a national park, it would provide a number of protections identical to those afforded by the National Parks Act. It would set the boundaries of the park in federal legislation, requiring the approval of Parliament to sell any park land. Currently, the park manager, the National Capital Commission (NCC) has the ability to dispose of park land without the approval of Parliament. MP Turmel’s proposed legislation would also make the maintenance and restoration of the park’s ecological integrity the overriding management priority for the National Capital Commission (NCC) and would compel the latter to work closely with local municipalities as it manages the park.
According to Doug Anions, Chairman of the CPAWS-OV Gatineau Park Committee, “Turmel’s proposed legislation is a definite step in the right direction. It addresses many of our concerns. A century ago, Gatineau Park was to become our first national park east of the Rockies. We are calling on the Government to support this legislation as it moves forward.”
The NCC reports that Gatineau Park receives some 2.7 million visits annually, making it one of the most heavily used parks in Canada. As the City of Gatineau and the rural municipalities surrounding the park continue to grow, critical habitat both inside and adjacent to the park is lost. CPAWS-OV fears that without strong legislated protection, Gatineau Park, as we know it today, will cease to exist. We
congratulate Nycole Turmel for making the protection of Gatineau Park a priority.
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Please visit our website at www.cpaws-ov-vo to learn more about CPAWS Ottawa Valley and the threats mto Gatineau Park For further information or for media requests, please contact:
Doug Anions, Chair, Gatineau Park Committee, 613-260-8157 or
John McDonnell, Executive Director,
613-232-7297 or by email at jmcdonnell@cpaws.org
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Public Consultation on the future of Gatineau Park
Saturday, May 26, 2012, at 2 pm at Relais Plein-Air 397 Cité-des-Jeunes Boulevard
“TOGETHER, LET’S PROTECT GATINEAU PARK”
SPEECH
Press conference, April 22, 2012
Hello and welcome to Relais plein air. Thank you for accepting my invitation.
As you can see, the Relais plein air is a gateway to Gatineau Park. Each week, hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people pass through here to discover the natural beauty and rich heritage of this Canadian jewel.
That is why I have chosen this place to share my goal for Gatineau Park.
But before getting into the details of my announcement, let me introduce the people with me here today.
You all will have recognized NDP MP Mathieu Ravignat (Pontiac).
I would also like to welcome Pierre Ducasse, the current chair of the Hull—Aylmer riding association.
Greetings also to Pierre Philion, City Councillor for Saint-Raymond-Vanier.
And from civil society organizations we have with us:
- Nicole Desroches, Executive Director of the Conseil régional de l’environnement et du développement durable de l’Outaouais (CREDDO)
- John McDonnell, Executive Director of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society - Ottawa Valley Chapter (CPAWS-OV);
- Jean-Paul Murray, Secretary of the Gatineau Park Protection Committee (GPPC)
- Bertrand Daigneault, President of Club Vélo Plaisirs; and
- Two other NGOs who support our initiative but could not be here with us today: the Sierra Club and Nature Québec.
Today, as we celebrate Earth Day, we are gathered around a simple idea: GatineauPark is a national treasure that we must protect and preserve for futuregenerations.
If we want to leave a healthy park to the generations that follow us, a park like the one we know today, we must act now.
And I intend to do my part.
That is why I am announcing today the launch of my campaign, “Together, let’s protect Gatineau Park.”
The campaign has three parts:
First, as I promised in the last election campaign, I will introduce a bill to protect Gatineau Park.
For seven years now, the NDP has been proposing legislation to protect the park. This latest initiative must be the right one. The status quo is no longer acceptable.
As we speak, Gatineau Park has no legal status and no recognized boundaries in Canadian law. Portions of its territory can be sold to private interests without Parliament having any say in the matter.
Is this normal? Not in my view. The bill I plan to introduce will correct these anomalies.
My bill will also strengthen NCC policy by giving the NCC a statutory mandate to purchase private land inside the park’s boundaries.
Finally, unlike the bills introduced by my predecessors, my bill will not include a right of first refusal.
These are key ideas that I support and that I would like to see in my bill. Before going ahead, however, I want the public to have their say.
That is why—and this brings me to the second part of my campaign—I will be holding a public consultation on the future of the park on May 26, at 2:00 p.m., here at the Relais plein air.
I am doing this because I want the public to see this bill as their own and participate in its creation. I have presented my ideas, but the public must also have a say in the park’s future.
I want to hear from them and draw inspiration from their ideas to submit a bill that reflects their expectations.
So I encourage people to participate in this public consultation in large numbers. They can register on my website or by contacting my riding office.
The third part of my campaign concerns the petition “Together, Let’s Protect Gatineau Park,” which will be released tomorrow across Canada.
This petition will be available at my riding office, on my website and through the organizations supporting us here today.
For this project to succeed, the public must be involved. They must tell their political representatives to make protecting Gatineau Park a priority.
Together, I know we will change things. Happy Earth Day, everyone.
http://cpaws-ov-vo.org/news/press-release-communique-de-presse
Press Release
CPAWS OTTAWA VALLEY CONGRATULATES HULL-AYLMER MP FOR BOLD ACTION TO PROTECT GATINEAU PARK
Ottawa – April 22, 2012 – Today, the Ottawa Valley Chapter of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS-OV) congratulates Hull-Aylmer MP, Nycole Turmel, for following through with her campaign promise by outlining her plan to introduce legislation to protect Gatineau Park.
As recent assaults on Gatineau Park’s ecological integrity – including the construction of yet another house at Meech Lake and the extension of Highway 5 near Wakefield – illustrate, strong legislation is long overdue. CPAWS-OV is calling on all parties in the House of Commons to support this legislation, much as they did when a Bill to expand Nahanni National Park was passed with broad support.
While MP Turmel’s proposed legislation stops short of creating a national park, it would provide a number of protections identical to those afforded by the National Parks Act. It would set the boundaries of the park in federal legislation, requiring the approval of Parliament to sell any park land. Currently, the park manager, the National Capital Commission (NCC) has the ability to dispose of park land without the approval of Parliament. MP Turmel’s proposed legislation would also make the maintenance and restoration of the park’s ecological integrity the overriding management priority for the National Capital
Commission (NCC) and would compel the latter to acquire private property within the boundaries of Gatineau Park.
According to Doug Anions, Chairman of the CPAWS-OV Gatineau Park Committee, “Turmel’s proposed legislation is a definite step in the right direction. It addresses many of our concerns. A century ago, Gatineau Park was to become our first national park east of the Rockies. We are calling on the Government to support this legislation as it moves forward.”
The NCC reports that Gatineau Park receives some 1.7 million visits annually, making it one of the most heavily used parks in Canada. As the City of Gatineau and the rural municipalities surrounding the park continue to grow, critical habitat both inside and adjacent to the park is lost. CPAWS-OV fears that without strong legislated protection, Gatineau Park, as we know it today, will cease to exist. We congratulate Nycole Turmel for making the protection of Gatineau Park a priority.
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Please visit our website at www.cpaws-ov-vo.org to learn more about CPAWS Ottawa Valley and the threats to Gatineau Park. Click here for the PDF version of this press release.
For further information or for media requests, please contact:
John McDonnell
Executive Director
613-232-7297 or by email at jmcdonnell@cpaws.org
