Canada and Australia - Comparing Environmental Policies in 16 Countries - page 139

outraged citizens, the provincial government claimed that it had juris-
diction and denied permission. Ontario prevailed in the legal dispute.
Although the amount was small, people worried that exporting a little
water for beverages would lead to tapping the Great Lakes for munici-
pal supplies in the United States, and even big canals or pipelines carry-
ing water to irrigate the West. Diversion comes under the jurisdiction
of the International Joint Commission set up by the Boundary Waters
Treaty. In 2001 Canada and the United States amended the treaty to give
the national government the authority to prohibit bulk water removal.
Moreover, all provinces now have developed laws or regulations to cover
the problem. However, little agreement exists north or south of the border
as to what constitutes reasonable withdrawal for municipal or agricultural
use. Quebec and Ontario joined eight US states in 1985 to sign the Great
Lakes Charter, and in 2001 amended it to strengthen it, especially regard-
ing water removal.
The Arctic remains nearly pristine. This land of tundra and ice has only
a few inhabitants, chiefly Inuits (Eskimos). In 1999 Canada established
a semiautonomous government called Nunavut. The territory stretches
from the northern border of Ontario and Hudson Bay toward the North
Pole, covering 700,000 square miles, and constitutes nearly one-fifth of
Canada. The population density is only one person per 27 square miles.
The area to the west, about equal in size, remains part of the Northwest
Territory. Although remote, the Arctic suffers from deposition of toxic
pollutants blown from the south. Warming global temperatures affect
the region disproportionately. Already sea ice is receding, and the entire
Arctic Ocean may be ice free in the summer in a few decades. The fall
freeze-up is later, and the spring thaw is earlier. The delta of the Mackenzie
River has extensive reserves of natural gas, and when these are tapped,
the Northwest will change. About 1974 the United States proposed an
oil pipeline from the North Slope of Alaska to Chicago. Although never
built, recent proposals call for transporting natural gas from the Delta to
Ontario or Alberta. More than 30 years ago the threat of a pipeline caused
environmentalists to organize the Canadian Arctic Resources Committee.
Geologists have found that the warming is melting the permafrost tundra,
which in turn releases methane, which is a greenhouse gas so the cycle will
be exacerbated.
The abundant fishery of the Grand Banks in the Atlantic began to
suffer decline in the 1970s. In 1974 the government imposed Total
Allowable Catches for each stock. This helped temporarily, but by 1992