Columbia River Water
Guest: Alec Lazenby, Vancouver Sun
On this edition of Journal, we take a close look at something we all take for granted: water. That is, we took it for granted until President Trump started talking about taking it away from us.
This is particularly important for British Columbia since he has focussed on the mighty Columbia River, whose headwaters are north of Cranbrook.
This is the faucet that the president suggests could be opened so that more of Canada’s water could flow to the US, helping with the drought and wildfires of California. Experts shake their heads at his concept – there is no faucet and the Columbia River doesn’t flow near to California. But politicians are paying attention.
In 1964, after some pretty heavy negotiations, Canada and the United States signed the Columbia River Treaty, giving the two countries shared management of the river. Canada would build dams to control water flow, thus preventing flooding in Washington State. In return, Canada received 50% of the profits from the hydroelectric power produced downstream.
Interestingly, Senator Jack Austin, who was involved in those negotiations, says that Canada got more than it deserved in that Treaty.
As it stands, more than 40% of US hydroelectric power comes from this Columbia River system. So you can see why it has caught the President’s attention.
The Treaty was due to be renegotiated last year but try as they might, to have a new deal ratified before the change in presidency, it didn’t happen. As a result, there is plenty of uncertainty about how aggressive the US will now be to change the deal to their advantage.
Enjoy this episode via podcast or YouTube:
