Heartless Conservatives at it again on the environment.

Ed Struzik, The Edmonton Journal

Published: 3:31 am

EDMONTON - The federal government surprised conservationists Monday with a plan to create a Banff-Jasper-like system of national parks near the southwest corner of the Northwest Territories.

If all goes according to plan, Nááts'ihch'oh (pronounced naah-tseen-cho) National Park will be connected to the north end of Nahanni, the United Nations World Heritage site that is among the most famous mountain wilderness parks in the world.

Altogether, 7,600 square kilometres of wilderness in the Mackenzie Mountains have been temporarily set aside for the next five years. The memorandum of understanding signed with the Dene of the Sahtu region and the government of the Northwest Territories also provides for $500,000, which will go towards an impact and benefits plan.

This is the fifth northern conservation initiative the Harper government has launched in the past year. Since last August, the government has announced plans for a new national park on the east arm of Great Slave Lake, a national wildlife area for the Ramparts River and wetlands (Ts'ude niline Tu'eyeta) in the Mackenzie Valley, funding for the Sahoyúé-§ehdacho National Historic Site of Canada on Great Bear Lake and an expansion plan for Nahanni....