Canadian politicians are great at making promises about protecting the environment. They’re not always great at keeping them. In 2010, former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper’s government agreed to protect 17 per cent of Canada’s land and freshwater by 2020. At the time, just 9.6 per cent of Canada’s land and freshwater — collectively referred to as “terrestrial areas” — was protected, meaning it was safe from future development and had plans in place for safeguarding wildlife and ecosystems.