Ottawa unveiled new details on Monday about its renewed and expanded Oceans Protection Plan.
Budget 2022 included a pledge of $2 billion over nine years, bringing the total investment to $3.5 billion.
It is described by the Liberals as the largest investment Canada has ever seen to protect our oceans.
Speaking in Saint John, N.B., on Monday, Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said $447 million will be earmarked to further protect and restore coastal ecosystems.
“It will allow us to build on our existing work and invest in new areas,” Alghabra said while speaking at Port Saint John.
That includes restoring aquatic ecosystems, investing in measures to reduce marine shipping impacts on mammals, preventing the spread of invasive species, and banning the transport of heavy fuel oil in the Arctic.
Alghabra did not have details about specific projects, noting that many of them have yet to be finalized.
“We are announcing the envelope or the objective of these projects, so it’s going to include working with local communities, local organizations on learning more about how to restore and protect the ecosystems in our waterways,” he said.
Alghabra noted that more than 50 initiatives have been implemented under the Oceans Protection Plan since it was first launched in 2016.
Among those initiatives are opening six Canadian Coast Guard search and rescue stations in British Columbia and Newfoundland and Labrador, protecting more than 200 endangered species, and funding more than 500 projects to and dispose of abandoned vessels across Canada.
