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Council of Canadians presents at Parliamentary hearings on water protection

Emma Lui sampling the Fraser River

Today, the Council of Canadians’ Water Campaigner Emma Lui called on the federal government to restore and enhance protections for every lake and every river at the last day of the Standing Committee meetings on the Navigation Protection Act, formerly the Navigable Waters Protection Act.

Lui appeared before the Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities by videoconference this morning.

“I’m concerned that there hasn’t been enough consultation with the public on the 99 per cent of lakes and rivers that remain unprotected under this act. Communities rely on these waterways for boating, fishing, tourism and more. Despite the importance of water, Prime Minister Trudeau continues to approve projects that seriously threaten thousands of lakes and rivers,” says Lui. “The Kinder Morgan and Line 3 pipelines and the Site C and Muskrat Falls dams all pose serious threats to navigable waterways, but the federal government is ignoring the concerns of people and communities.”

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