Mr. Speaker, it has been over 10 years since the Mackenzie River Basin Transboundary Waters Master Agreement was signed. Since that time, Ottawa has failed to do any work to get the bilateral agreements between the various provinces and territories finalized.
My constituency in the Northwest Territories is downstream from one of the worst environmental disasters in the world, the Athabasca tar sands. A study of water quality by University of Alberta researcher David Schindler makes it clear the tar sands have added cancer-causing toxins to the environment.
Due to the colonial nature with which Ottawa handles the territories, responsibility for water is still a federal matter. Ottawa has not taken up its responsibility, so there is no effective way to control this pollution.
The NWT wants to move forward and has developed a water strategy, but Ottawa's lack of action is getting in the way. If Ottawa will not take up its responsibility, it should hand over jurisdiction for water to the territories.