>From: David Weston <dweston@island.net>
>Subject: Global Brain No.74: the Grande Canal System - the draining of
> Canada.
>
Thanks to Stu and Jean Rogers of White Rock for this one. Another wake-up call to Canadians as we have our water stolen from us with the permission of the quislings in Ottawa. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Global Brain No.74: the Grande Canal System - the draining of Canada.
When all the elements of `The Grande Canal System' and the James Bay project are in place, a territory the size of Montana will embrace no fewer than 30 major dams and 500 separate dikes, while impounding reservoirs that in aggregate surface area would equal Lake Erie. And there would be generating capacity to crank out a volume of megawatts exceeding that of all the major U.S. hydro dams in the Columbia and Colorado River basins combined. In the view of Hydro - Quebec and the provincial government, power of this magnitude provides jobs for the jobless, industrial growth, political stability. And it all flows out of a place so remote and sparsely settled that it hardly seemed necessary for Hydro - Quebec to consult the indiginous population, the Cree and the Inuit, much less expect that the majority of these people would view the project not as a triumph of engineering but as a threat to their way of life. LG1, the fifth Hydro - Quebec powerhouse built on the La Grande River, rises from James Bay wetlands and forests - habitat of lynx, black bears, waerfowl, and one of North America's largest caribou herds. When completed in 1995 LG1 is churning out 1,368 megawatts of electricity for Quebec. Other La Grande installations help light up parts of the U.S.Northeast. The Great Whale complex would take this tumbling, 225-mile-long river and, with dams and dikes, convert much of its length into a series of artificial slack-water lakes. These reservoirs would submerge more than a thousand miles of riverine lands and untamed forests. CANADIAN WATER RIGHTS NEGOTIATED AWAY (As printed in Peace Arch News White Rock BC) (Wed Sept 28 1994) Resource economist says Natives are Canada's last chance. (by Denise Coles Contributor)
The inclusion of water in the North American Free Trade Agreement is a fixed and done deal thanks to the mismanagement of trade negotiations by our politicians, according to resource economist Wendy Holm. "I dont see Canadians being able to exercise any suasion over the federal government to resolve the issue of water exclusions under the FTA and NAFTA," Holm told approximately 100 people attending a public meeting on the preservation of B.C. water and the Columbia River Treaty. "It is completely done, and the government (U.S.) certainly isn't going to give it back." Holm told the crowd at Peace Arch Provincial Park that Prime Minister Jean Chretien had the chance to demand the exemption of water from NAFTA in December of 1993, just prior to proclamation of the agreement in the new year. Chretien should have made sure the agreement between Canada, Mexico and the U.S. referred only to bottled water, according to Holm who has written books and articles on the implication of the FTA/NAFTA on Canada's water resource. In a speech which fcused on the legalities of how water is included in the trade agreement, Holm pointed our that it is how water is defined as a "good" under the General Agreement on Trade and Tarrifs (GATT) that will ensure that plenty of Canadian water will flow to markets south of the border. That definition was used for the NAFTA/FTA agreements. Under GATT, water is considered a marketable good under when it is stored, or simply contained, such as in a dam, or when it is transported in trucks and ships or passed through pipelines, she explined. Free-flowing water that is not restricted or contained by any manmade infrastrucure is therefore not considered a marketable good under GATT and the free trade agreement. U.S. demand for water continues to grow and Canada will be hard-pressed not to send it south under the broad definition of marketable good in trade agreement. Once large-scale water diversion begins, populations dependent on water will require the Canadian tap to continually flow, she said. Holm says she foresees water as the "oil of the next century." There is high demand for water in the rapidly developing arid regions of the U.S. southwest, and agricultural regions in Mexico. These areas will naturally look to Canada given the fact we have nine percent of the world's water. B.C. has three percent of that total. Holm says she sees only one opportunity for Canadians to regain some control over our most valuable resource. It's not too late for First Nations communities to assert teir sovereignty over bodies of water, said Holm. "The First Nations community has the only strong legal issue to challenge them on at this point. I don't think the rest of us do," Holm said. The meeting to discuss preservation of B.C's water resource was organized by Dr. David Goranson, a doctor at Peace Arch Hospital. Speakers also discussed the Columbia River Treaty as well as the future of Canadian lakes and rivers. The date of the meeting, Sept 24., is symbolic as it comes 30 years after president Lyndon B. Johnson visited B.C. premier W.A.C. Bennett to deliver a $273,291,661 cheque for 30 years of hydroelectric power under the Columbia River Treaty.
NOTE: More to follow sap when available of more up-dated vintage. 73's&88's Stu (RG) Jean and Stu Rogers 15161 Victoria Ave. White Rock, B.C. Canada V4B-1G5
Phone (604) 531-2142 stujean@alternatives.com
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