FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 11, 2015

Federal government announces that it will more than double its initial contribution by adding an additional 21 square kilometres of new lands to Rouge National Urban Park

PICKERING – Michael Chong, M.P. for Wellington-Halton Hills, joined Prime Minister Stephen Harper and several Greater Toronto Area MPs to announce an expansion of park lands to Canada’s first ever urban national park. The Government of Canada will more than double its initial contribution by adding an additional 21 square kilometres of new lands to Rouge National Urban Park, featuring a mix of natural, cultural and agricultural lands.

“I am delighted to see the expansion of the Rouge National Urban Park,” Chong said. “This important park will provide Canadians with the ability to experience some of Canada’s rarest ecosystems, right outside their front door.”

This expansion will increase the boundaries of Canada’s first national urban park by over 36 per cent, making it one of the largest urban parks in North America, spanning 79.5 square kilometres once fully established.

“Under the Rouge National Urban Park Act, the Rouge park will receive the highest level of environmental protection of a natural area that is so close to human development,” Chong said. “The creation and expansion of this park is an important step forward to protecting the environmental integrity of Canada’s ecosystems in urban areas.”

The expansion of Rouge National Urban Park was informed by broad consultations with municipal, regional, provincial, Aboriginal and community stakeholders. The urban park will provide real and significant benefits to Canada’s environment, including protecting drinking water, agricultural lands, rare ecosystems such as some of the best remaining examples of Carolinian forests and wetlands in the Greater Toronto Area, and rich biodiversity including over 1,700 species of plants and animals.

For more information on the Rouge National Urban Park, please visit: https://www.pc.gc.ca/en/pn-np/on/rouge

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For more information:

Madeline Gibson, Legislative Assistant

Office                   (613) 992 4179

Office Toll Free   (866) 878 5556

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