'Good day to be a polar bear': Carney unveils nature strategy, new conservation areas

Prime Minister Mark Carney walks around a Toronto neighbourhood after visiting a local business on Monday, March 30, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

LA PÊCHE — The Liberal government’s new $3.8 billion nature protection strategy will put Canada’s 2030 nature conservation goals within reach, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Tuesday.

Announcing the new plan at an event in Wakefield, Que., Carney said the federal government will create new national parks, urban parks and marine conservation areas.

Carney said his government is taking an “ambitious” approach to conservation spaces and urban parks. He said the plan will require “significant” federal funding and includes aspirations to spur private-sector investments.

The new conservation areas will include the Wiinipaawk Indigenous protected area and national marine conservation area in Eastern James Bay, and the Seal River watershed national park in Manitoba.

Carney said the Seal River park will help protect the world’s largest intact watershed.

“Think about that -- the world’s largest intact watershed, providing natural carbon storage, water filtration and flood protection, while preserving the habitat of polar bears, caribou and other iconic Canadian wildlife,” Carney said.

“It’s a good day to be a polar bear in Canada.”

Tuesday’s announcement included commitments to fund as many as 14 new marine protected and conserved areas, along with 10 new national parks and freshwater conservation areas.

The government says the measures will allow Canada to protect 30 per cent of its lands, and 28 per cent of marine and coastal areas, by 2030.

The federal government committed four years ago to protecting 30 per cent of the country’s land and waters by 2030.

Tuesday’s announcement also included a commitment of $230 million to expand the Indigenous Guardians Program to add an Arctic-specific component to it. The government also committed to further fund the removal of “harmful fishing gear” from Canada’s oceans -- also known as ghost gear.

The new plan comes just a few weeks after conservation groups warned that federal funding was running out. A key funding initiative was to sunset after Tuesday.

Environment Minister Julie Dabrusin was questioned about the expiring funding earlier this month at a Parliamentary committee hearing. She told MPs the government was working on it.

Speaking to The Canadian Press on Tuesday, Dabrusin said she was excited to finally be able to share the news.

“Being able to announce two new parks, talking about what we’re doing in the area of marine conservation with ghost gear, all these things, it’s so many good pieces today,” she said.

A spokesperson for Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre wasn’t sold on Tuesday’s announcement, calling it “a whole new bureaucracy to burn taxpayer money while continuing to get the same poor results” and predicting the Liberals will still miss their targets.

In a statement, Greenpeace Canada said Tuesday’s announcement, while welcome, lacked ambition.

“More parks won’t restore the grasslands, forests and waters threatened by climate change, pollution and resource exploitation as long as Canada continues its ‘extraction first, nature and people last’ approach,” Salome Sane said in a statement.

Bloc Quebecois environment critic Patrick Bonin, who at the committee meeting grilled Dabrusin on the government’s conservation targets, welcomed Tuesday’s news.

“As long as Ottawa cements its walking back of environmental policies, the injection of new money and the will to protect 30 per cent of lands and waters is welcomed,” Bonin said in a statement in French.

Bonin did call for more funding for Quebec to help meet Canada’s goals.

“The federal government does not own the territory or the tools that would permit it to protect nature. Quebec is better positioned to manage its own territory and combat the decline in biodiversity.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 31, 2026.

-- With files from Kyle Duggan