A model act for preserving Canada's waters : Loi type sur la protection de l'eau au Canada

While there continue to be debates about the implications of NAFTA on Canada’s water resources, in a sense these distract from the real issue of whether Canada is doing all it can to protect our water resources, given the potential constraints of NAFTA and the multilat- eral obligations of the World Trade Organization (WTO). [...] The International Joint Commission recognized the threat of bulk removals of water from the Great Lakes Basin – Canada’s largest reser- voir of freshwater – in its 2000 report on Protection of the Waters of the Great Lakes. [...] In 1999, the federal and provincial governments recognized the need to keep water within Canada’s major drainage basins for a number of reasons: to sustain natural flows, to prevent the transport of invasive pests and diseases, to protect biological diversity, and to ensure the sustainable use of water for future generations. [...] The growing concern relates to, among other things, ensuring a sustainable supply of water for the use of future generations in light of climate change and threats to water quali- ty, recognizing the potential implications of major diversions on ocean processes and international waterways, preventing the inter-basin transfer of invasive pests and diseases, protecting biological diversity, and main [...] Section 5. NON-APPLICATION OF THE FEDERAL PROHIBITION Description (1) Except with respect to Her Majesty in right of Canada, the provisions relating to prohibition of water removals would not apply within the jurisdiction of a government for which there is in force a federal order pursuant to subsection (2) of this section declaring that the provisions do not apply within that jurisdiction.