A long-overdue treaty update is stalled, leaving province vulnerable to political and economic risks
Last July, in what many of us thought to be the nick of time, painstaking negotiations between Canada and the United States produced a modernized, momentous agreement-in-principle to one of North America’s most consequential transboundary pacts.
But the treaty amendment languishes in limbo. It couldn’t be ratified by the U.S. Senate before last year’s American presidential election. BC Hydro negotiated on behalf of the B.C. government for Canada, but the deal formally requires federal cabinet sign-off, too, unlikely before our own expected federal election.
The most cynical and anxious among us might believe there was a reason for American political indifference after the hard bureaucratic work, that to dicker for our water would be yet another shiny object of desire for the Trump administration. Now that some of us stoop to jeer The Star-Spangled Banner at Canucks games, we appear capable of thinking these dark thoughts of our neighbours.
Of course, the Columbia is not just a source of vast electricity or insurance for flood protection. It involves a vital ecosystem that supports fisheries, agriculture and local economies. One critique is that the treaty’s provisions have inadequately considered ecological sustainability, so inaction further jeopardizes the health of the river basin. Due to climate change’s impacts of droughts and snowmelt patterns, water management needs to be guided by modern science.
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