Abstracts
Public Policy Aspects of Managing Canadian Waters in a Changing Climate
Gordon McBean1, C. Coleman
1University of Western Ontario
gmcbean@uwo.ca
Climate change is now happening and the projected climate change over this century is unprecedented in thousands of years. As part of climate change, there will be both increases and decreases in river flows, relative to the last 30-50 years, within Canada and around the world. Since rivers naturally cross boundaries, both within Canada and between Canada and the United States, varying roles of different levels of government complicates management of these water resources. There exist water management agreements between the provinces, territories and federal government. Climate change will test these agreements. This paper examines, from a public policy point-of-view, the robustness of these agreements and their potential capacity to deal with major challenges.
The paper will briefly discuss the federal-provincial constitutional and legislative context. Since rivers cross provincial, territorial and federal boundaries, the balance of uses of the water, as it becomes limited, may be contested between the provinces. With the increasing responsibilities being awarded by the federal government to new territorial governments, there are additional complications. Within a province, there may also be conflicts between the use demands from various sectors that are often conflicting. We will then examine some of conflicting demands on water management systems in Canada that may be exacerbated by climate change. Through use of examples, we will review the present and possible future states of conflict over water resource use in Canada. Special attention will be given to the role of the federal government in the management of within-Canada transboundary issues.
2005-04-05 |
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