On Monday, April 28th, 2025, there will be a federal election in Canada. Be sure to VOTE (find out where in your riding and also what you must bring, at: https://www.elections.ca ). Be sure to keep the fate of nature and the environment in your mind - the most consequential of all issues ultimately for you, your kids and your grandkids - when you vote!
The Endangered Ecosystems Alliance is calling on all federal political parties to:
Support Canada’s national protection targets of 30% by 2030 of all of Canada’s terrestrial, freshwater and marine areas at a bare minimum, as well as Canada’s future protected areas targets via the UN Convention on Biological Diversity.
Ensure that these targets are legally-binding in federal protected areas legislation, such as through a reintroduction and strengthening of the Nature Accountability Bill in the coming legislative session in 2025.
Ensure legally-binding sub-targets for all ecosystems, known as “Ecosystem-Based Targets”, including the most biodiversity-rich ecosystems (and typically the most contested by industry) in southern Canada that are least represented and most at-risk, in federal protected areas legislation.
Ensure adequate support to meet protected areas targets, including financial support for land acquisition and Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs) developed by First Nations.
Recently, most of the federal parties responded to an environmental questionnaire from several of Canada’s national environmental groups (see: https://cpaws.org/responses-to-questionnaire-to-the-federal-parties-on-environmental-priorities/#question-two ) regarding nature protection, which sheds insights on some of our policy asks, along with their platforms and past track records.
This is where the main parties stand in regards to our key policy asks:
Conservative Party of Canada
NO ANSWERS were given to the environmental questionnaires.
NO COMMITMENT has been made to protect 30% by 2030.
There are significant mentions in their platform of weakening the protection of nature and expediting and facilitating the exploitation of natural resources (logging, mining, oil and gas).
They OPPOSE the FEDERAL PROTECTION of the OLD-GROWTH FOREST habitat of at-risk WOODLAND CARIBOU in Quebec, which is mentioned in their platform and as the Conservative Opposition rallied workers in 2024 on this issue - see:
https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1968614/chef-conservateur-saguenay-foret-environnement
They OPPOSE full PROTECTION of MARINE PROTECTED AREAS in favour of commercial fishing within their boundaries, which is mentioned both in their platform and from their statements to the news media. See: https://ca.news.yahoo.com/poilievre-says-reverse-marine-protected-184000553.html
OPPOSITION to and MISINFORMATION about the Nature Accountability Bill was expressed by a Conservative Opposition Member of Parliament in the Standing Committee on the Environment and Sustainable Development in 2024, stating that protection of 30% of Canada’s land area is an attempt to “prevent existing private landowners, hunters and anglers from having the access necessary to participate in these traditional heritage activities” (FACT: hunting and angling are supported by the vast majority of protected and conserved areas in Canada, protecting critical habitat and public access needed for these activities, while private lands are purchased only from willing sellers - not expropriated for protected areas - plus, by far the vast majority of protected areas are created on Crown lands, not private lands). See:
https://www.ourcommons.ca/DocumentViewer/en/44-1/ENVI/meeting-139/evidence
They have a general statement in their platform to:
“Protect though policies:
a. Clean Air and Climate
b. Clean Water and Land
c. Biodiversity”
with no further details or clarification.
See their platform here: https://cpcassets.conservative.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/23175001/990863517f7a575.pdf
LIBERALS
In both their responses and in their platform, they support Canada’s 30% by 2030 protection target, support Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas, mention an existing $250 million federal fund to match private donations for protected areas, and have allocated several billion dollars to protect nature in previous budgets which run for several more years.
In 2024 they introduced the Nature Accountability Bill to enshrine Canada’s international protected areas target in legislation, which died in its second reading when Parliament was prorogued in 2025. - they have not stated whether they will try to reinstate the bill if they are re-elected.
They have not committed to Ecosystem-Based Targets to protect all ecosystems, although reference mapping biodiversity-rich landscapes (which is the pre-cursor to but is not the same as creating targets).
See their protected areas platform here: https://liberal.ca/wp-content/uploads/sites/292/2025/04/Mark-Carneys-Liberals-to-protect-Canadas-Nature-Biodiversity-and-Water.pdf
NDP
The NDP in both their platform and their response to the environmental questionnaire commit to Canada’s 30% by 2030 target, supporting IPCAs, and supporting legislation for Canada’s protection targets. They mention creating “measurable targets for protecting at least 30% of high-carbon, high-biodiversity lands” which potentially could be Ecosystems-Based Targets, but there is a lack of clarity and details. They mention creating “measurable targets for protecting at least 30% of high-carbon, high-biodiversity lands” which potentially could be Ecosystems-Based Targets, but there is a lack of clarity and details.
Read their platform here: https://www.ndp.ca/campaign-commitments
Green Party
The Greens have an extensive platform for expanding protected areas. They have committed to Canada’s 30% by 2030 target and expanding targets to reach 50% by 2050. They support IPCAs, protecting old-growth forests and extensive funding for Indigenous-led protection and conservation. They mention “prioritizing areas with significant biodiversity” for protection in their response to the questionnaire, but there is no explicit mention of Ecosystem-Based Targets or legislating Canada’s 30% by 2030 protection target in an accountability law.
See their platform: https://cdn.greenparty.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/GP_Platform_English_FINAL-1.pdf
Bloc Quebecois
The Bloc Québécois in their questionnaire response and/or platform, support (for Quebec only, their jurisdiction) protecting 30% by 2030, tripling funding for protected areas to $300 million in the province, and Indigenous protected areas efforts. They talk about protecting endangered species but there is no mention of Ecosystem-Based Targets, nor mention of any support for enshrining the protection targets in accountability legislation.
See their platform: https://www.blocquebecois.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/blocqcplateforme-2025web.pdf
