Government not placing priority on water
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 23/06/2015 (4129 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
An open letter to the Conservation/Water Stewardship minister and Premier Selinger regarding Manitoba’s Little Saskatchewan River.
There has been no decision on the appeals provided, and that was 34 months ago. Replies to all my previous requests are repetitive:
“A decision has not yet been made on this appeal.”
What is taking so long, I ask?
I don’t think that the Conservation/Water Stewardship minister spent very much time looking at the appeals and why the Little Saskatchewan River should be given a reprieve — at least, until a dedicated in-flow study was carried out as promised by former Water Stewardship minister Christine Melnick.
How many filed appeals would it take, as apparently nine was not enough? Let’s face it. This was a “done deal” from its plan and early conception. The issuing of a licence was only a formality. Pipeline infrastructure was being put in place as far back as 2011 according to eye witness reports.
What does that suggest to you?
This is just one more example of how the province does business. Water continually gets trumped by development and economics. Regulations are not followed and it is evident that the entire water staff involved with this, have some explaining to do. Its time to discharge the lot and hire personnel to do the work properly, as it should be.
Manitoba’s ombudsman released a negative report several years ago on how the province randomly issues water licences. Perhaps the appropriate department and the minister have not taken the time to read that report, as yet?
That said, I do not believe “above and beyond requirements” were taken to obtain environmental approval.
Let’s face the facts as they have been presented by Ms. Ruth Pryzner: “The public interest and the interest of the Little Saskatchewan River have been abandoned by the province. The betrayal of the basic fundamentals of Stewardship and protection of this water system is evident.”
The public expects and deserves better, and as we have been warned by Justice Horace Krever:
“The relationship between a regulator and the regulated must never become one in which the regulator (the province) loses sight that it regulates only in the public interest and not in the interests of the regulated.”
A full public inquiry is in order as to why this was allowed to take place.
John Fefchak
Virden