CPAWS announces position on proposed changes to Canada's Navigable Waters Protection Act
February 20, 2009CPAWS announces today its position on the proposed changes to the Navigable Waters Protection Act (NWPA) contained in the 2009 Federal Budget Implementation Act.
CPAWS believes that it is fundamentally important to protect the environmental integrity of Canada’s wild waterways and to protect the long-standing right of all Canadians to self-propelled navigation of these waterways by such means as canoe, kayak and raft.
These protections have been afforded to people and to Canada’s navigable rivers, streams and creeks since 1882 through the Navigable Waters Protection Act. The Act currently requires that any bridges, booms, dams or causeways are subject to an approvals process that considers both their environmental impacts and impacts on navigation.
The federal government is now proposing changes to the Act away from the light of public scrutiny – contained within the legislation to pass the 2009 federal budget. In CPAWS’ view, the proposed changes to the NWPA within the Budget Act could leave some important waterways unprotected and could also, at the Minister’s discretion, eliminate environmental assessments of some kinds of ‘works’ on waterways, such as dams, bridges, excavation and dumping.
CPAWS acknowledges that this important piece of legislation could benefit from some improvements, but these should not be buried in the Budget Implementation Act; they should be treated as a separate piece of legislation and all stakeholder groups should be consulted.
The House of Commons Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities reviewed the Navigable Waters Protection Act last year and recommended changes to it, but also recommended that they be subject to further consultation. In CPAWS’ view, if the government fails to remove the NWPA changes from the budget implementation bill, and fails to consult further before passing such amendments, it would eliminate the public’s right to participate in this discussion, and could fail all Canadians by weakening the protection of our waterways.
CPAWS is calling on Parliament to remove the amendments to the Navigable Waters Protection Act from the Budget Implementation Act 2009. Further, we are calling on Parliament to conduct public consultation on these proposed changes to the NWPA in a separate process. CPAWS’ primary goal is to ensure that this legislation keeps environmental integrity and access to self-propelled navigation front and centre in the Act.
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For more information:
Chris Henschel
National Manager of Domestic and International Affairs
chenschel@cpaws.org
613-569-7226 x220
Comments | Commentaires
Note: Any opinions expressed here, except as specifically noted, are those of the individual commenters and do not necessarily represent the views or policies of CPAWS.In these times of environmental awareness, it seems short-sighted to make changes that could end up "hiding" what goes on. Have you considered setting up a petition?
Posted by Christine Norman on February 20, 2009 5:03 PMReply from CPAWS:
Hi Christine,
Check out our handy tool for quickly sending a letter to decisionmakers.
Our waterways need to be protected in an environmentally sound way and for future generations. Clean water is vital for all life as are wild running rivers unimpeded by dams.
Posted by RJ Browne on February 20, 2009 5:15 PMThese proposals to amend the
Navigable Water Protection Act
literally stink of contamination by Bush tactics
of secrecy and evasion of public scrutiny, and promise future dealings behind closed doors by special interests. Their sneak inclusion in the Budget Implementation Act
bespeaks of a desire to produce a fait accompli
"under the radar" by
eliminating time for public input and debate.
Sincerely,
Ian Campbell Cree
Posted by Ian C.Cree,MB(Hons.),MS,FRCS(Eng.& C.),FACS,LRCP. on February 20, 2009 9:13 PMThe only way (in my opinion) that we are going to be able to become better stewards of the Earth is to enable people to experience ecology by engaging with it. Sustainable development is about much more than the trade offs of cap and trade or maximum sustained yields. It is about people recognizing that they live within the environment, not apart from it. Ecology is not something happening "over there" but is all around us all of the time. The act needs to be strengthened so people will not feel further removed from their natural heritage.
Posted by Jeremy Nathan Marks on February 21, 2009 8:51 AMPlease protect our water. It saddens me that I cannot eat fish more than once per week due to the high mercury levels. I used to eat fish 3-4 times per week and my mercury levels were sky high. Reducing my intake to once per week has reduced it to near normal. It is very scary for those whose diets depend on fish. We need to act on this before it creeps up all the food chains.
Posted by Jude Lupuliak on February 21, 2009 9:08 AMThis is serious
– another CRAParty hidden-agenda erosion of our Canadian environmental fabric
– let’s not let them render even more of what little is left of our ‘wild’ home and native land.
Toby
It's your duty to protect the waterways!
Posted by Noel A. Bednaz on February 21, 2009 12:58 PMThis story was reported last year in the National Post as a business story. It has implications for Tourism and Recreation services and industries.
The government imagines itself to be prepared for CPAWS reaction, but are they prepared to hear from all the people whose livelihoods will be affected? Do the organizations representing these folks know about these changes?
Reply from CPAWS:
Hi Ron,
Yes, many of the outfitters deserve credit for raising the alarm when this story first broke. Some have formed a coalition called "I speak for Canadian Rivers" to fight changes to the NWPA. You can see their site here: ispeakforcanadianrivers.ca
Waterways need to be protected in an environmentally sound way. Future generations should be able to enjoy them in an environmentally friendly way. We must maintain clean water for all life.
Thank you.
As I see it, one of the major injustices today is in the categorization of the issue for which the Budget Act was conceived. It is not an economical crisis that we are facing, it is a biological/ ecological one. We seem to be forgetting that our "economy" or our "wealth" comes almost entirely from the resources we extract from our planet; which at this point appears to be putting some constraints on our consumption.
Secondly, criticism has been aimed at the Navigable Waters Protection Act; I have heard that project proponents point to its restrictiveness when it comes to requiring such things as environmental assessments before a work can move forward. Not a biologist nor a scientist be I, but neither am I dumb enough to swallow that line. If when a project were presented it included mitigating measures in its initial submission, I'd bet the legislation would be much more enabling than it's been given credit for.
I believe these two issues to be very closely related and that they have not been publicly addressed honestly by our elected representatives at any level of government. And the cure that is being proposed as a means of overcoming the current problem will only divert attention away from the more critical issues that need to be confronted.
Posted by John Morrell on April 26, 2009 9:57 PMPost a comment | Ajouter un commentaire
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Canada's Navigable Water Protection Act should be kept in force - the only changes to it should be to protect our waterways even more. With all the bad things happening that are adding to the global warming crisis, do not do more harm by taking away this Act. Only make it better by doing more to protect our waterways.
Posted by Cyndy Richards on February 20, 2009 4:42 PM