Stop Bill C-10: Amendments to the Navigable Waters Protection Act
by BCWF
 Urgent message from the BCWF President to all members! The federal
government has introduced Bill C-10 a Federal Budget proposal. Unknown
to many, they have included “Amendments to the Navigable Waters
Protection Act” (NWPA) in Bill C-10. Please see today’s press
release (below) for information and contact your MLAs and MPs and
senators immediately to demand they remove the amendments to the
Navigable Waters Protection Act from Bill C-10.
BC Wildlife Federation Concerned With Amendments To Navigable Waters Protection Act The BC Wildlife Federation adamantly opposes amendments to the Navigable Waters Protection Act (NWPA) as included in the Budget Implementation Act, Bill C-10. Canada’s
Navigable Waters Protection Act was originally passed in 1882 with the
intent of recognizing the common right of access to and free passage on
public waterways. Bill C-10 makes unacceptable changes to that
legislation.
The Conservatives are hiding things in some of their bills that can have an adverse effect on the environment - everyone should read the brief description of the damaging components of Bill C - 10 and get on the email or phone to your MP. This bill is loaded and people should urge their MP to drop the amended sections of the Bill C- 10. Call your senator, too and write to the PM.
The proposed changes will:
1. Eliminate environmental assessments, with few exceptions, for development projects on Canadian waterways.
2. Allow Canada’s rivers to be separated into those that are worth protecting and those that can be exploited.
3. Those classifications can be determined secretly within cabinet with no public consultation, no basis in science and no opportunity for any appeal.
4. Ensure that these decisions will most certainly be made based on political expediency rather than on scientific or long-term social and environmental considerations.
Enabling the government to declare previously protected waterways as non-navigable also has other ramifications for the resource.
If a waterway is designated as navigable the bed of the waterway is considered to be crown property. Designating the waterway as non-navigable will enable the bed to pass to private ownership. From this flows the further concern that private ownership of the waterways bed implies private ownership of the fishery.
If the federal government honestly believes that the NWPA needs updating, the BCWF urges Prime Minister Harper to remove the amendments from Bill C-10 and hold transparent and meaningful public discussions on the legislation across Canada. Regardless, the government must:
1. Restore the existing environmental assessment requirements,
2. Remove the Minister’s discretion on major construction projects as listed in the legislation, specifically dams, causeways, bridges and booms.
3. Remove the power of government to arbitrarily divide Canada’s rivers into those considered ‘worthwhile’ and those that are somehow less valuable.
The public right to free passage on public waterways goes directly back to the signing in 1215 of the Magna Carta and it has been the federal government’s mandate to protect that right.
With their intent to amend the Navigable Waters Protection Act, the federal government appears to be putting Canadians on notice that they are now willing to abrogate that responsibility. The Federation cannot believe this government is prepared to destroy the birthright of all Canadians under the pretext of a stimulus package.
The amendments to the Navigable Water Protection Act, as included in Bill C-10, ensures the loss of adequate environmental protection and public access to navigable waterways that is a part of our Canadian heritage.
The BCWF urges all Canadians to contact their MPs and Senators and demand they remove the Navigable Waters Protection amendments from Bill C-10.
For further information contact Patti MacAhonic, Executive Director of the BCWF at 604-291-
9990 extension 230 or mailto:patti@bcwf.bc.ca
The BCWF is a province-wide voluntary conservation organization representing over 30,000 British Columbian members whose aims are to protect, enhance and promote the wise use of the environment for the benefit of present and future generations.
The B.C. Wildlife Federation was incorporated under the B.C. Societies Act in 1951 and it became a registered charity in 1969. The Federation is British Columbia’s largest and oldest conservation organization.
|
