Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to table another petition with respect to requesting to restore the Great Lakes water level. The petitions are signed by many people from Manitoulin Island, including Silver Water, Michael's Bay, Ice Bay, Bay of State, Kagawong, Sheguiandah, Tehkummah and Sagamok. Sagamok is not on Manitoulin, but these people are also concerned because the water level affects them as well. The petition is also signed by people from North Bay, Lively, Sudbury, Corbeil, Hamilton and Ohsweken, among others.
The petition talks about the fact that since 1999, the water level in Lake Huron has dropped four to five feet, with no sign of rebounding 13 years later. As we can imagine, the economic impact of such a drop is serious as these communities rely a lot on tourism, cottaging and boating. As for their day-to-day activities, some of the homeowners are having difficulties with their water lines as well.
They are asking the Canadian federal ministers of natural resources, environment, fisheries and transport to increase their efforts significantly to halt and reverse the ongoing loss of water from the Great Lakes basin in general and the Lake Huron-Michigan-Georgian Bay-North Channel basin in particular.