| In Question Period today, Transport Minister Denis Lebel was once again answering questions about the environmental impact of the changes he plans to make to the Navigable Waters Protection Act.We had hoped to ask the Minister some questions of our own on Tuesday. That’s when news broke that ninety percent of the ninety-seven lakes that will continue to be covered by the law are either inside, or lapping against, Conservative ridings.We didn’t hear back from the Minister’s office. But we did talk to the Ottawa Citizen reporter who broke the story.
That conversation led to this e-mail from Joan and Larry McFarlane, who have a cottage on Skeleton Lake, a hundred-and-fifty kilometres northeast of Edmonton. “What protections were in place for the thousands of lakes before this change? Can we access a list of the old and new protected lakes. We don’t recall any mention of lakes in Saskatchewan or Alberta. Also, how did the government decide which lakes to include now? We would really like some more info on all this.” You and me three, Joan and Larry McFarlane. We’ve got a list of the bodies of water that made the cut. We’ll get that up on our Facebook page. For the rest, we’re hoping Nathan Gorall can help. He’s a Director General at Transport Canada. We reached Mr. Gorall in Ottawa. |
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Photo by Linda Heron