The federal government plans to more than double its initial contribution of land to Rouge National Urban Park, according to Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

In Pickering on Saturday, Harper announced that 21 square kilometres in Pickering and Uxbridge are being added to the park. The extra land, part of what was expropriated by the federal government in the early 1970s for an airport that has yet to be built, will increase the park’s boundaries by 36 per cent, to 79.5 square kilometres. That would make it one of the largest urban parks in North America — 19 times larger than Stanley Park in Vancouver and 22 times larger than New York’s Central Park.

The new area includes forests, meadows, streams, creeks, important archaeological sites and large tracts of farmland, some of which will continue to be farmed.

Legislation creating the park, first announced in 2011, was passed in the House of Commons this past January and came into force in May.

“Today’s announcement will provide families across the Greater Toronto Area and visitors from coast to coast to coast with more opportunities to enjoy Canada’s great outdoors,” Harper said. “The expansion of Rouge National Urban Park will also ensure current and future generations of Canadians remain connected with an important part of Canada’s rich natural and cultural heritage.”

Establishment of the park has not come without controversy, particularly in a clash with the Ontario government, which controls about two-thirds of the 58 square kilometres originally slated to become part of the park, including a large swath owned by the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority.

Ontario Economic Development Minister Brad Duguid recommended in March that the province not turn over that land to the federal government, agreeing with environmental groups that legislation creating the park did not provide sufficient environmental protections and failed to meet the standards of existing Greenbelt, Oak Ridges Moraine and Rouge Park plans.

“It’s fine that they’ve added more land to the park, but the outstanding issue, the central issue, still remains … We still don’t have legislation worthy of a national urban park, it still doesn’t meet the international standard for protected areas,” said Anna Baggio, director of conservation planning for Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPWS) Wildlands League.

The current legislation needs to be changed so that preserving nature is the top priority for park management, Baggio said. This would mean that if planners wanted to put in a road or parking lot, for example, they would have to do it in a way that has the least harmful impact on the park. The emphasis on putting nature first is particularly important because Rouge National Urban Park is surrounded by heavily populated, urbanized areas.

“We need to give nature as much help as we can here, and so the legislation needs to be consistent within the national standards,” Baggio said. “And it can be. There’s no reason why it can’t be. There’s no reason why they can’t fix the law.”

Friends of the Rouge Watershed general manager Jim Robb said he’s happy the government has expanded the park, but that on top of changing the legislation, there’s more to be done. The group is asking for the government to incorporate more publically-owned land to the park to bring its total area to 100 square kilometers, and to remove the threat of a airport being built in Pickering “that would waste tax dollars, pave irreplaceable food-land and greenspace, increase pollution and fuel dangerous climate change,” Robb said in an email.

Harper attempted to address those criticisms in his speech, saying “The new Rouge National Urban Park will have the highest level of environmental protection. It will also allow the farmers who have been responsible stewards here for more than a century to continue to work this land, as is only fair. There is no excuse for anyone not to get behind the Rouge National Urban Park because that is what the people of the GTA want.”

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Harper was vague on what might happen to the remaining expropriated land north of Highway 407, despite the announced revival of the moribund airport plan in 2013, which also blindsided the province. “Our government will only support projects on these lands, including an airport, if they are backed by a sound business plan and are in the best interests of this community,” he said.

With files from Jackie Hong and Canadian Press

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