When I started my talk, I said that I was here when the federal Species at Risk Act was being debated and brought into force. The idea of the federal Species at Risk Act is that it had a safety net so that the first onus was on the provinces to take responsibility for the wildlife within their provinces. However, because wildlife is an issue of national importance, there had to be a measure, if the provinces were failing and only in rare circumstances, by which the federal government would take the leadership needed to ensure that measures are taken so that species don't become extirpated.
In all fairness, I think the way the act has been implemented by every government since it was brought into force is to use the emergency or critical habitat protection order as a threat, to say to the provinces, “We are going to do this unless you change,” to try to motivate provinces to have the political will to take the steps needed to protect and recover caribou. When provinces continually fail time and again.... It has been years. The first science about what caribou need to survive came out in 2008—again, under the federal government—and when provinces continue to just ignore it and stall, then I do think measures need to be taken to afford caribou habitat protection.