The new federal agriculture minister is pressuring the new environment minister to make any new endangered species legislation more palatable than the proposal that died when the election was called.
Lyle Vanclief said one of the first things he did after being named agriculture minister was approach environment minister Christine Stewart about the contentious issue, which has upset many prairie producers.
“As we were walking out of the governor general’s residence to have a lemonade on the lawn, I said to Ms. Stewart that we had some things in the endangered species and environmental protection acts that needed to be addressed,” he said in Saskatoon June 16.
Vanclief said producers want to make sure they don’t lose productive land if someone spots an endangered animal on it.
And they want to make sure the financial burden of protecting endangered species isn’t borne only by producers.
