Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced new details on the federal government’s $3.5 billion plan to protect the oceans and bolster Coast Guard facilities on the world’s longest national coastline.
In its last budget, the government committed to adding $2 billion over nine years to the $1.5 billion already earmarked for ocean protection.
Speaking at a news conference in Bowen Island, British Columbia, Trudeau said the government has now launched an expanded version of the Oceans Protection Plan.
Initiatives already funded by the program include the opening of six coast guard stations in British Columbia and Newfoundland and Labrador, the establishment of an Indigenous-led Coast Guard Auxiliary in British Columbia, the restoration of coastal aquatic habitats and the removal and disposal of hundreds of derelict boats. .
It has also funded efforts to protect species at risk, including southern resident killer whales and North Atlantic right whales.
The new funds aim to expand these environmental and safety efforts to more regions. Trudeau said the latest plan aims to maintain healthy oceans and coasts, advance reconciliation and build a clean future.
The initiative showed his government “was tantamount to saying that our oceans should be protected”, he said.
“The federal government before us was closing Coast Guard stations, underinvesting, ignoring all kinds of partnerships with Indigenous peoples, and firing scientists.”
He said his government is stepping up efforts on the oceans plan which was launched in 2016 and will be “broad and deep”.
Joyce Murray, Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, said the government “will work in partnership with Indigenous peoples and coastal communities to protect Canada’s mariners, waterways and shorelines now and for generations to come”.
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