C-26: A very leaky bill

OTTAWA -- The proposed Bill C-26, an Act to amend the International Boundary Waters Treaty Act and the International River Improvements Act does not go far enough to protect Canada’s water from bulk exports.  “Bill C-26 leaks like a sieve,” said Green Leader Elizabeth May. “It does not prohibit interbasin transfers of water or the transfer of waters into transboundary waters, both of which are needed to fully protect Canada’s water from bulk export.”

The Canadian Water Issues Council and the Program on Water Issues at the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto, have proposed amendments to the bill, which was introduced on May 13 2010. 

The bill as drafted does not address the eighty percent of Canada’s river basins that are neither boundary nor transboundary waters, leaving a loophole that could see water being transferred into a transboundary river for export into the United States. 

The Green Party supports efforts to strengthen Federal Water Policy that emphatically opposes large-scale exports (bulk exports) of our water.

Contact Information:
Debra Eindiguer
Press Secretary
C: 613.240.8921
media@greenparty.ca