Jeff Rubin writes in this morning’s Globe and Mail on the subject of Canada as a water superpower.  His comments touch on the mechanics by which water and oil are closely linked in the Canadian economy, and especially in the Alberta oil sands.  Massive amounts of fresh water are used in the form of steam to separate synthetic crude from raw bitumen.

Though most critics of the oil sands point to emissions of greenhouse gases as the principle danger of oil sands projects, I would argue that the greater danger is the threat to human security posed by the way water is used in the Athabasca watershed.

Much of the thinking surrounding the environmental impact of the oil sands is flawed in two ways: First, many critics see any use of water as improper.  This ignores the value to Canada’s economy and global strategic position of hydrocarbon production.  Secondly, they view water use (and wastage) as an isolated issue rather than incorporating it within the wider rubric of human security.  Water is a big issue.

In July, for example, the United Nations General Assembly voted to enshrine access to water as a human right.  Canada abstained from the vote, along with the United States, Israel and a number of other countries.  A spokesperson for Foreign Minister Cannon stated the reasoning behind Canada’s non-support of the resolution thus: “the general right to water is not codified under international human rights law…international human rights obligations in no way limit our sovereign right to manage our own resources.'

In other words, the Harper minority government did not want to be on the hook for supplying water to have-not countries, as unlikely as such action might seem.  As well, it seems obvious that the Conservative government would see water management as a local concern and not something in which Ottawa should meddle.

The July UN vote is just one example of how access to clean water has emerged as a global hot button issue, and how Canada’s lack of a comprehensive national water strategy will soon need to be addressed.  In 2000, the Ministerial Declaration of The Hague on Water Security in the 21st Century stated as a goal that:

every person (have) access to enough safe water at an affordable cost to lead a healthy and productive life and that the vulnerable are protected from the risks of water-related hazards.

In order to approach such lofty aspirations, even in spirit, the Canadian government is going to have to begin viewing our water security in much broader terms.  By viewing water as a matter of security, management of our water resources for economic and all other purposes might become more structured and egalitarian, rather than the current free-for-all.  There are often many claims on single sources of water.  A river may have industrial, agricultural, municipal and leisure claims at various points along its length.

Canada, therefore, needs a national water strategy.  At present, responsibility for fresh and saltwater resources rests in part with local, provincial and federal governments.  At the federal level, a variety of ministries and departments have overlapping and sometimes competing responsibility for managing aspects of Canada’s water inventory.

Canada’s water strategy should start with a complete survey of all Canada’s water resources.  Remarkably, Canada has no such centralized database of its water bodies and related measures of flow and volume.  There are individual projects, but no overarching and centralized authority to track Canada’s water.

Secondly, and this is something I have recommended elsewhere, Canada needs a Ministry of Water.  Jurisdictions such as Australia and Kenya have already figured this out and created national water-management bodies that have cabinet-level Minister/managers.  In Canada’s case, the Minister of Water would relieve other departments of their water-related responsibilities and would coordinate water policy as practiced by provincial and municipal levels of government as well as other jurisdictions such as First Nations reservations and national parks.

Neoconservatives might argue that this is yet another recommendation to bureaucratize some element of the Canadian economy and aggregate yet more power unto Ottawa.  They would be correct.  As with national defence or national health policy, I am arguing that the measurement, administration and conservation of Canada’s water resources is a matter of such importance that it should be located in a ministry of the Crown.

Increasing numbers of scholars and writers prefer to see the world not solely as composed of individual political states with related national security needs, but rather as communities of people existing independent of political structures.  These human communities have security needs: assured basic income (economic security), access to medical care (health security), and others such as water.

By viewing water as a matter of human security with both economic and social value, Canadians will begin to move closer to a consensus on how this precious resource can be managed and preserved.

(Photo Kootenay National Park  by Allan Dwyer)