Our sovereignty at risk

[CHIMO]

The governors of the Great Lakes states have a plan for diverting water from the Great Lakes Basin. Under their scheme, neither Canada nor the provinces would have any right to approve or veto the diversion of Great Lakes waters regardless of their duration, scale, or impact on the waters of this shared ecosystem.

This is the conclusion I came to in a legal opinion commissioned by the Council of Canadians regarding the diversion of Great Lakes waters.

The governors' plan, which has implicit Congressional approval, also ignores the role of the International Joint Commission, which is supposed to approve significant diversions of Great Lakes waters.

In terms of binational relations, their scheme represents a unilateral approach for dealing with an international problem. This reflects a problematic trend by the U.S. to reject or marginalize international agreements, particularly those concerning the environment.


http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1097878210898&call_pageid=968256290204&col=968350116795

[hermetic]

1. That's very disturbing

But then we've all known for a while that water ownership is and will be the biggest contention on this planet. This article gives no indication of any concern by the Canadian government, just this one guy's opinion. It's a great concern to me tho and I hope you will continue to provide links with new information. When the MN legislature reconvenes in Nov, I will be happy to send letters of concern about this to my reps (sorry that my governor is an ignorant a**hole, I didn't vote for him). Anything we can do to help, just call.

[gula]

2. This will be the beginning of the end

Water will indeed be the battle ground for the 21st. century.

We must fight this at all costs. Unfortunately I have no confidence in Martin standing up to the USians. Any suggestions of what we can do?

Is this being covered in other papers?

[CHIMO]

3. WATER

Water is a public trust; it belongs to everyone. No one should have the right to appropriate it or profit from it at someone else's expense. Yet that's what corporations and investors want to do. And they see Canada's freshwater lakes, rivers and aquifers as a rich reservoir to tap.

In early 1999, the Council launched its campaign to ban the bulk export of Canadian water and head off what it sees as the gradual commodification and privatization of this priceless, public resource.

http://www.canadians.org/browse_categories.htm?COC_token=coc_token3&step=2&catid=40&iscat=1