Canada’s premiers will push to improve the international treaty which is supposed to ensure Canada and the United States co-operate on cross-boundary water issues, Manitoba premier Gary Doer said Tuesday.
During a two-day meeting of premiers in Vancouver, Doer said there was a good discussion about the 1909 Boundary Waters Treaty and the weaknesses there may be enforcing it.
With the treaty set for its 100th anniversary next year, Doer wants both Canada and the U.S. to recommit to it and strengthen its enforcement provisions.
“We have to make sure the 1909 Boundary Waters Treaty can provide for meaningful adjudication,” said Doer.
He said a number of premiers fear water disputes with the U.S. will heat up in coming years.
The treaty is supposed to prevent either country from making unilateral decisions which affect the others waterways.
Manitoba hoped the treaty may ensure Manitoba’s concerns are heeded with several North Dakota water diversion projects, including the Devils Lake outlet.
But it didn’t influence that project much.
In particular Manitoba wants the International Joint Commission to be the apolitical body deciding cross-border water disputes, something that didn’t happen with the Devils Lake dispute. The IJC has three appointed members from both countries on its panel.
Doer said the premiers also discussed ways to collaborate on water quality legislation, such as banning or restricting the amounts of phosphorus in dishwasher soap and fertilizers.
Manitoba introduced such legislation last fall but it has not yet been debated or passed in the Manitoba Legislature.
Doer said the four western provinces are also hatching a plan to co-ordinate on water conservation. The premiers of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba will meet again in the next few months to work on that, Doer said.
The Vancouver meeting mainly focused on the environment including cutting greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to the changes brought on by climate change.
Quebec Premier Jean Charest and Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty called for a cap-and-trade system to cap greenhouse emissions and trade carbon credits at the conclusion of a meeting of Canada’s premiers and territorial leaders.
The two suggested such a system is inevitable.
Charest even suggested the Montreal stock exchange is the perfect place for Canadian businesses to trade carbon credits.
McGuinty says the federal government is not showing leadership on important global issues like the environment.
British Columbia and Manitoba also support a cap-and-trade system.
– with files from Canadian Press
mia.rabson@freepress.mb.ca
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