What's needed for water protection in Trudeau’s 2017 budget?

[Oscar]

What's needed for water protection in Trudeau’s 2017 budget?

[ http://canadians.org/blog/whats-needed- ... 017-budget ]

March 10, 2017 - 7:54 pm

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives launched its 2017 Alternative Federal Budget, High Stakes, Clear Choices, [ https://www.policyalternatives.ca/afb2017 ] yesterday. This year's AFB focuses on creating jobs, reducing income inequality, lowering poverty levels, closing unfair and expensive tax loopholes, and getting the economy moving. The AFB also sets a path for 100% renewable energy generation by 2050 that creates green jobs and protects the climate, water and public health.

With the federal budget launch scheduled for March 22, World Water Day, this is an important time to learn what the Trudeau government must do to protect water and implement the human rights to water and sanitation.

The water chapter of the "High Stakes, Clear Choices", [ https://canadians.org/sites/default/fil ... r-2017.pdf ], examines key water issues such as drinking water in Indigenous Communities; public water and wastewater infrastructure; water and environmental legislation like the Navigation Protection Act, Fisheries Act and Canadian Environmental Assessment Act that remains gutted from the former Harper government; extreme energy projects like the Kinder Morgan pipeline, fracking and LNG; protection of the Great Lakes and bulk water withdrawals and trade agreements.

The federal government announced [ https://www.canada.ca/en/indigenous-nor ... waste.html ] that they were on track for “delivering on its Budget 2016 commitment to end long-term drinking water advisories affecting INAC-funded public systems on-reserve within five years.” A recent report (Feb. 2017) by David Suzuki Foundation and the Council of Canadians, "Glass half empty?" Year 1 progress toward resolving drinking water advisories in nine First Nations in Ontario [ http://canadians.org/sites/default/file ... s-0217.pdf ], found that the process for attaining clean and safe drinking water for First Nations remains flawed. The report makes 12 recommendations that must be implemented in order for the federal government to maintain progress toward its goal of ending long-term DWAs.

The water chapter of the AFB says, “In 2011, a government study estimated that $889 million is needed every year for First Nations water and wastewater facilities including projected operating and maintenance. (For further details see the First Nations chapter. [ http://www.policyalternatives.ca/afb201 ... ations.pdf ] )” So the amount of funding the Trudeau government allocates to water and wastewater infrastructure in Budget 2017 and whether it implements the 12 recommendations will be demonstrate whether the Trudeau government is truly committed to ending drinking water advisories in First Nations once and for all.

In order to protect water as a commons, public trust and human right, the AFB calls for the following funding:

Strengthen public and community water and wastewater infrastructure

• Create a National Public Water and Wastewater Fund to replace poor infrastructure (cost: $6.5 billion a year for six years, $2.5 billion a year in year seven and beyond).

• Implement the Wastewater Systems Effluent Regulation (cost: $1 billion a year over 20 years).

• Commit $100 million annually for water infrastructure in small municipalities.

• Commit $75 million annually for ongoing water operator training, public sector certification, and conservation programs.

Support and fund environmental impact assessments

• Conduct assessments of all energy and mining projects; include community consultations and seek free, prior and informed consent of Indigenous communities in the process (cost: $50 million).

• Conduct an in-depth and independent study of the effects of tar sands development on the environment and health (cost: $30 million).

• Reinstate federal funding for water programs at the departments of Environment and Climate Change Canada, Fisheries and Oceans, and Transport Canada (cost: $50 million).

Ensure the safety and sustainability of freshwater in Canada

• Implement a comprehensive action plan to protect the Great Lakes (cost: $500 million in year one and $950 million a year in each of the following four years).

• Establish water quality and quantity monitoring frameworks; increase the number of monitoring stations, train staff in water monitoring, and create a new water minister position (cost: $327.5 million over three years).

• Commit $3 million toward a groundwater protection plan and $1 million to complete a review of virtual water exports from Canada.


Read the water chapter in French: [ http://www.policyalternatives.ca/bfa201 ... es/Eau.pdf ]

or English: [ https://canadians.org/sites/default/fil ... r-2017.pdf ]


Tags:

bulk water exports
[ http://canadians.org/tags/bulk-water-exports ]

fracking
[ http://canadians.org/tags/fracking ]

First Nations
[ http://canadians.org/tags/first-nations ]

Blog Categories: National Water Policy
[ http://canadians.org/categories/national-water-policy ]

Emma Lui's blog
Water Campaigner for the Council of Canadians
[ http://canadians.org/blogs/emma-lui ]

[Oscar]

1 in 4 people in First Nations reserves may lack clean water, says Council of Canadians

[ http://canadians.org/media/1-4-people-f ... -canadians ]

Media Release March 20, 2017

[ PHOTO: Tap water ]

The Council of Canadians says new analysis [ http://canadians.org/blog/1-4-people-li ... lean-water ] of Health Canada and B.C.’s First Nations Health Authority data shows that up to one in four people may not have clean water on First Nation reserves.

“It is truly appalling that families in First Nations have gone without clean drinking water for so long – many for five years or more,” says Maude Barlow, National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians. “There hasn’t been measurable change in years; the number of drinking water advisories remains at roughly the same level as in 2010.”

The analysis [ http://canadians.org/blog/1-4-people-li ... lean-water ] shows that up to 72,000 people could have been affected by drinking water advisories (DWAs) in First Nations at the start of 2017. Definitive numbers on affected populations were not readily available. Forty, or nearly one quarter, of the DWAs were for systems for which the number of people impacted was unknown.

“With the federal budget coming out on World Water Day, now is the time for the Trudeau government to show its commitment to ending drinking water advisories in First Nations within four years,” says Barlow. “The Trudeau government has the opportunity to demonstrate genuine leadership in implementing the human right to water.”

“Adequate funding is a crucial first step, but it must be matched with reducing barriers for First Nations to accessing funding and restoring and enhancing water protections,” says Emma Lui, water campaigner for the Council of Canadians. “The federal government must also obtain free, prior and informed consent for projects that threaten water sources as required by the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. These are critical steps to ensuring clean water for generations to come.”

Last month, the David Suzuki Foundation and the Council of Canadians released "Glass half empty? Year 1 progress toward resolving drinking water advisories in nine First Nations in Ontario", [ http://canadians.org/media/federal-chan ... ent-report ] which found that the process for attaining clean and safe drinking water for First Nations remains flawed. The report makes 12 recommendations that must be implemented in order for the federal government to maintain progress toward its goal of ending long-term DWAs.

Read more here: [ http://canadians.org/blog/1-4-people-li ... lean-water ] -30-

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