View topic - NWPA - NPA thank you.

October 21, 15.
This is an open THANK YOU! To all those who have been involved in the long fight we have had over the Navigable Waters Protection Act (NWPA) and it’s poor replacement cousin the Navigation Protection Act (NPA)
I thank you all for surviving the countless emails, posts and requests on paddling issues that I have inflicted on many of you.
I do not wish to re-hash the treatment that we and our waterways has gone through in the last nine years but we must move forward and be prepared.
This is not the light at the end of the tunnel but at least now we will be allowed to see the tunnel.
Even though we now have a “Paddling” Prime Minister and several other elected M.P.s who have supported our tireless efforts we cannot expect special treatment.
We will however be allowed to present our views and evidence in a fair and democratic way, which will bring rules and regulations that will benefit and protect all users of our waterways.
I ask you now to be vigilant and when the opportunity to respond to NEW changes to the NPA that we react positively for the protection and access to our waterways.
This way we should be able to see the light ant the end of the tunnel.
Again thank you for your efforts.
Jeff McColl
Conservation Chair
Wilderness Canoe Assoc.
And a life long paddler.

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Choosing to save a river is more often an act of passion than of careful calculation. You make the choice because the river has touched your life in an intimate and irreversible way, because you are unwilling to accept its loss. — (David Bolling, Ho

An important step forward for democracy in Canada....we will have to wait to see if the reality of the decision making process changes, but at the very least those who stand up for the environment are unlikely to continue to be viewed as terrorists.....

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Dave

"The way of a canoe is the way of the wilderness, and of a freedom almost forgotten." Sigurd Olson, 1956

The Liberals have promised to review, restore and improve the NPA but it seems the emphasis is on environmental protection rather than navigability... here is the actual quote from the platform statement, notice that navigability is not the term being used. And what does "more modern safeguards" actually mean?



Maybe not a real difference on the ground but we'll see. Something that could really conflict with paddler's interests is the promise to provide $2 billion for the Low Carbon Economy Trust, which will be applied to reducing CO2 emissions. This could mean more money to fund hydroelectric projects on lakes and rivers and that could be argued as being good for the environment since this will displace CO2-emitting fossil fuel based electrical generation.

The Liberals have also promised to make environmental assessments more effective in ensuring environmental protection, including consideration of climate change, so if after the Liberals' review the NPA can again trigger an environmental assessment, the EA may in fact see environmental protection differently than it did in the past, depending on what changes actually are made (again possibly seeing the need to reduce CO2 being the main issue affecting law and policy here, and what happens on the ground).

Trudeau is pro-pipeline, being for both Keystone and Energy East, and most likely any other new ones being planned... that could affect rivers and lakes.

Politicians seem to overpromise and underdeliver regularly, so I'm sure that many will be watching with a great deal of interest on how all this will play out.

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When Harper changed the NWPA to NPA he left a window of opportunity to "review" the recommendations and regualtions and rules. Which will come due in these next few years.
The Bonus for us is they never really got around to posting any of these.
I guess the ego of the cons figured they would be back in power.
They really took a #$# over the loss of protected water sheds so I am sure they wanted to avoid stirring us up more than we where.
The site for following the NPA was on the move again before the election so I had some "concerns" on what was going to happen.
A thing to remember is urban production of electricity is evolving at an incredible rate and the lack of need for large remote production is diminishing. (we already have too much and are selling it off at a cost to the taxpayers)
So the bigger fight will be on a provincial level to stop giving subsidies for these projects.
But that should be another thread.
Jeff

_________________
Choosing to save a river is more often an act of passion than of careful calculation. You make the choice because the river has touched your life in an intimate and irreversible way, because you are unwilling to accept its loss. — (David Bolling, Ho