Northern NDP MP tables private member’s bill on waterway protection

An aerial view of the Kazan Falls on the lower Kazan River. (FILE PHOTO)

In a move aimed at embarrassing the Conservative government over non-budget provisions included last year in Bill C-45, its massive omnibus bill, Western Arctic MP Dennis Bevington has tabled a private member’s bill aimed at extending protection to heritage rivers in the three northern territories.

The omnibus bill, which passed the House of Commons and Senate prior to the end of 2012, contained amendments to the Navigable Waters Protection Act that critics say will weaken protections for lakes and rivers across the country.

To that end, opposition MPs have tabled a series of private member’s bills aimed at adding various waterways to the list of protected lakes and rivers listed under the act.

Bevington’s bill, tabled April 19, would list a series of heritage rivers in the three northern territories: the Alsek, Laird, Kazan, Soper, Nahanni, Thelon, Bonnet Plume and Tatshenshini rivers.

The Soper River flows through Kattanalik territorial park between Iqaluit and Kimmirut, and the Kazan and Thelon rivers flow through the Kivalliq region of Nunavut.

The NDP charges that the government’s amendments leave only two per cent of Canada’s rivers and lakes on the list of protected waterways.

“The Conservatives are systematically dismantling environmental protection for northern waterways,” Bevington alleged April 23 in a press release.

“They’re passing laws that could destroy some of our country’s most pristine lakes and rivers – all for the benefit of their insider friends, pushing forward unbridled and unregulated development,” he said.

Most private member’s bills have little chance of getting passed in the House of Commons, but are often used to score political points.