On Sunday February 20 at 4 pm, Save Our Spring will be holding a fundraiser at the Black Sheep Inn in Wakefield, Quebec featuring Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow and the music group Godknowswhat! The event is intended to raise funds for the ongoing campaign to protect a popular water spring threatened by a highway expansion project.
The Ottawa Citizen reported on January 4 that, “A community coalition wants the Quebec government to order a new environmental assessment of the proposed extension of Highway 5 to Wakefield. The group, SOS Wakefield, has joined forces with the University of Ottawa-Ecojustice Environmental Law Clinic, the Council of Canadians and the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society in a bid to protect a local water source which they believe will be affected by the expansion of the highway. The group says they believe that the highway extension is based on an out-of-date assessment that dates back to 1986.”
CBC had reported in September 2010 that, “Wakefield, Que., residents are worried that highway expansion in the area will contaminate a popular source of drinking water. Plans to widen Highway 5 to four lanes near the quaint Quebec village north of Ottawa could contaminate the aquifer that they have used for decades as a source of drinking water. That fear has been backed by federal officials as well. Transport Canada performed a preliminary assessment and determined that the project – which would involve lopping off a nearby hilltop – could contaminate the aquifer.”
To read Council of Canadians Ontario-Quebec organizer Mark Calzavara’s blog on this situation – Will traffic flow trump water flow in Wakefield? – please go to http://canadians.org/activistblog/?p=274.
For past campaign blogs on this, please go to http://canadians.org/campaignblog/?p=5849, http://canadians.org/campaignblog/?p=4849, http://canadians.org/campaignblog/?p=4599, http://canadians.org/campaignblog/?p=4466, http://canadians.org/campaignblog/?p=3898, and http://canadians.org/campaignblog/?p=3716.
For more information on the February 20 event, please go to the Black Sheep Inn website at http://www.theblacksheepinn.com/. There is no cover charge for the event, but donations are encouraged.
The Save Our Spring website is at http://www.soswakefield.ca/info.html.
