FLOW member, Ralph Pentland, explains why the proposed federal legislation to ban bulk water exports needs further work.
This is a letter from the Canadian Water Issues Council (CWIC) to Minister Lawrence Cannon regarding Bill C-26, legislation introduced on May 13, 2010 aimed at banning bulk water exports.
CWIC is a group of knowledgeable water experts and former senior water policy makers who provide advice on transboundary water issues to the Program on Water Issues at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto.
The letter explains that the most likely proposals for the interbasin transfers of water from Canada to the United States are not addressed under the amendments to the IBWTA and IRIA as proposed in Bill C‐26.
It also suggests how the proposed legislation could be strengthened significantly with a very few additional changes.
Canwest report, Mike De Souza, covered the release of a FLOW-Ecojustice-CIER report, Seeking Water Justice: Strengthening Legal Protection of Canada's Drinking Water. The article highlights the need to ensure all Canadians have equal access to safe drinking water.
When members of FLOW went to Canmore, AB for business, the Rocky Mountain Outlook featured their visit in an article, Top Canadian Water Policy Experts Drawn to Canmore.
FLOW members, Ralph Pentland and Nancy Goucher, were interviewed by the Hill Times for the article, Critics say Canada needs a national strategy on water management.
The article highlights the need for a national water strategy to address current and emerging water problems in Canada. Pentland points out the need to base the strategy on the concepts of harmonization and subsidiarity, which have been applied by the European Union through their Water Framework Directive.
This article from the Financial Post discusses the importance of investing in water and wastewater infrastructure. With the help of FLOW members, Bob Sandford and Tony Maas, the article challenges Canadians to change the way they use, develop and think about water infrastructure in their cities.
Ralph Pentland and Nancy Goucher published this article in the inaugural edition of the newly revamped Water Canada magazine. Entitled, Wonky Policy, the article uses the analogy of a 3-legged table to illustrate that the void left by the federal government has resulted in an unbalanced, fragile water policy system in Canada. The authors outline actions the federal government should immediately take to recognize the importance of water to Canadians. Click here to read other articles published in Water Canada.
In its January 2010 edition, Water Canada published this timeline, which covers some of the more notable events in the last ten years of Canada’s water history.
In this article, published by Americas Quarterly, Ralph Pentland describes the state of the Great Lakes and how plans to amend the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement offers hope in improving the way we address new and emerging challenges to these vital boundary waters.
It is well known that Canada and the United States share the longest unguarded border in the world. What is less well known is that much of that border is actually water. Ralph Pentland examines Canada-USA transboundary water relations and observes that they are relatively healthy, compared with those in most other parts of the world. But in recent years that relationship has become more fragile and less predictable, he says, and we need to reexamine what conditions need to be met to optimize it. As a contribution to that dialogue, he offers three suggestions: eliminate the distraction of the bulk water export issue; enhance the effectiveness of the International Joint Commission; and base water policy in the two countries on the highest common denominator.
