As has been made clear for several months, the Federal Government has been leading negotiations with third parties in order to secure a new operator for the Experimental Lakes Area.
We remain hopeful that an agreement can be reached and we welcome Ontario’s willingness to play an active role.
The negotiations with the International Institute for Sustainable Development are ongoing. Details will be shared at a suitable time.
To protect the integrity of these ongoing discussions, it would be inappropriate to provide further comment at this time.
Background information:
Discussions with potential third party operators started in May 2012. The International Institute of Sustainable Development emerged as a potential new operator in October, 2012.
Since that time, the negotiations with the IISD have been extensive and are ongoing. The Federal Government has made considerable effort to enable entry of this new operator such as providing information on the state of the facilities, lakes and projects undertaken over the ELA’s 44 year history as well as costs and other operational information.
DFO has also assisted this process by developing remediation plans to ensure that the facilities are in suitable condition to enable entry, facilitating connections with potential strategic partners, and initiating the engagement between IISD and the Province of Ontario.
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