Trump is coming for Canada’s fresh water
U.S. President-elect wants to open the floodgates
The media is filled with dire predictions for Canada after Donald Trump won this week’s U.S. Presidential election, but one potential disaster has been largely overlooked: Donald Trump wants Canada’s fresh water.
During recent campaign stops, and again on a conservative podcast, Donald Trump proposed solving California’s water shortages by sourcing water from Canada, causing concern among Canadian officials and water experts.
“I could have water for all of that land,” he said, relaying an anecdote about touring dry agricultural fields with a group of congressmen several years ago, reports Patrick White in The Globe and Mail.
“It’s got a natural flow from Canada all the way up north, more water than they could ever use,” Mr. Trump explained. “And in order to protect a tiny little fish, the water up north gets routed into the Pacific Ocean. Millions and millions of gallons.”
While his campaign didn’t clarify these comments, Trump claimed that Canada’s water could be diverted south by “turning a giant valve.” Experts suggest he may have referred to the Columbia River, which originates in British Columbia and flows into the U.S., though no infrastructure exists to reroute it to California.
NAWAPA: The water export scheme that refuses to die
The North American Water and Power Alliance, or NAWAPA, was conceived in the 1950s by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and promoted in the 1960s by a California engineering firm.
It proposed damming the Yukon, Skeena, Fraser, Peace and Columbia rivers to divert Alaskan and Canadian water south as far as Mexico. The scale was audacious and completely impractical: 240 dams and reservoirs, 112 water diversions, 17 aqueducts and canals, 40 years, US$100-billion – more than a trillion dollars in today’s money, says White.
Eileen Delehanty Pearkes, an author on Columbia River issues, notes that diverting water would require a costly new pipeline because NAWAPA proved financially and practically unfeasible.
I could have water for all of that land.
Even if logistical challenges were met, political, legal, and environmental hurdles remain significant. Canada’s Transboundary Waters Protection Act, passed by Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government in 2013, amended the International Boundary Waters Treaty Act to prohibit the bulk removal of transboundary waters.
How might Canada respond?
If Trump makes good on his designs to grab Canadian fresh water, how would Canada respond?
With the high probability of the Conservatives winning the next election, the decision whether to rebuff Trump or to grant bulk water exports to the U.S. could be in the hands of Pierre Poilievre. Brace yourself.
Last week’s poll results
Last week I asked you to answer the following question, “When will people in Gaza be able to choose their own government?”
A small number of readers answered, “Very soon” or “A few years” (13%), and an equal number said, “A generation or more” (13%). But a majority of readers disagreed (59%), and answered “Maybe never.” The remainder (16%) said they didn’t know or were unsure.
Who are you remembering this November 11?
Remembrance Day is just around the corner on Monday. Who are you remembering?
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Thanks for everything you do for peace.
Steve
Corporate control of Canada's fresh water is already here. Check the labels, and you'll see that Nestle owns many fresh water sources, including Canadian fresh water. I drink tap water!