The $391.5 million allocated over five years will allow the agency to improve roadways, bridges and dams located in Canada’s 44 national parks and historic canals.
That may be just a drop in the bucket. Estimates from the Toronto Star based on Parks Canada reports said it could cost as much as $2.77 billion to complete all 'deferred' work. That means projects identified as required, but pushed back due to lack of funding.
Examples of deferred work include anything from $1,000 in maintenance for small monuments to $676.9 million required for the Trent-Severn Waterway, says The Star.
Why the great search?
The Franklin discovery’s not about what, but where
While the two Franklin ships have already been designated as national historic sites no matter their location, the actual discovery of a ship would increase Canada’s chances of having UNESCO declare its location a World Heritage Site.
That declaration would strengthen this country’s claim to control of the Northwest Passage. As the waterway becomes increasingly open to shipping, that control becomes crucial to enforcing laws regarding environmental protection.
PM Harper has a hidden agenda. He wants to establish Canadian sovereignty in the north, and he seems quite happy about it. Mansbridge isn't totally unbiased, as he went on one of the searches, and made a video,- The Franklin search: Peter Mansbridge on why we should care
- CBC Special Report: Searching for Franklin
- Interactive: Franklin searches through the years
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Dr. Pat Sutherland |
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This is her project. She has lost the data, all collected in files. |
explorers had been in the Arctic earlier and for longer than anyone had previously thought. Her research made headlines in scientific circles, and garnered media attention including a feature in the National Geographic and a documentary on CBC’s The Nature of Things.
In the past few years, the federal government has cut funding to hundreds of research institutes and programs. Now some scientists have become unlikely radicals - denouncing what they call a politically-driven war on knowledge. (2013)
How the Harper Government Manipulates Canadian History
Stephane Dion – More than just a lesson in pretentiousness, this action is the mark of an appalling lack of respect for the historic role played by Thérèse Casgrain and other renowned champions of the women's emancipation movement in Quebec and the whole of Canada. This action is yet another manifestation of what historian Yves Frenette calls "the conscription of the Canadian past by the Harper government".