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June 25th, 2015

Western Chorus Frog: Minister must comply with decision immediately

New Democrats welcome the Supreme Court decision that blasts Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq for her inaction on the Western Chorus Frog file – a species threatened by residential development.

“Once again, the courts had to remind the Conservatives of their obligation to respect the Species at Risk Act (SARA). Not only did the Minister ignore the recommendations of scientists from her own department; she also wasted public money defending her inaction before the courts. That’s simply unacceptable,” said NDP Environment critic Megan Leslie (Halifax).

The NDP intervened in this file a number of times, urging Minister Aglukkaq to issue an emergency protection order under the SARA.

“I commend the work of the Quebec Environment Centre and Nature Québec, which brought this file before the courts. This issue could have been resolved much more quickly if the Minister hadn’t shown such bad faith. The Minister must comply with the court decision immediately and issue a protection order,” said NDP MP Hoang Mai (Brossard-La Prairie).