CANADA/U.S. GREAT LAKES BILATERALISM GETS A BOOST FROM NEW ALLPARTY HOUSE AND SENATE GROUP BY CO-CHAIRS VANCE BADAWEY, MP, AND SENATOR DIANE GRIFFIN
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ost Canadians view the Great Lakes as a playground: a place to cottage, fish, and to connect with nature. But they are also home to 3,500 unique plant and animal species and 30% of Canada’s population; a source of drinking water for millions; a source of sustenance and social influence for countless communities and Indigenous peoples, and they comprise 20% of Earth’s fresh surface water. The Great Lakes are an economic engine that churn out 240,000 jobs, $45 billion in economic activity, and $13 billion in recreation and resource interests. They facilitate the movement of $20 billion worth of goods annually, and they are a gateway to world markets. In recognition of the Great Lakes’ importance, the Canada–United States Inter-Parliamentary Group recently formed a new all-party, bicameral Great Lakes–St. Lawrence sub-group. This sub-group will informally link with US Members of Congress, including those on the US-based Great Lakes Task Force, to ensure constant and meaningful attention on all matters relating to the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence. Given the unparalleled economic, social, and environmental importance of the Great Lakes, the need for Canada– US collaboration may seem obvious. It may even seem unnecessary to have a dedicated body with a specific mandate to establish and maintain
working relationships across the border. History tells us not to take this important relationship for granted. Advancing solutions that benefit one’s neighbour is hardly intuitive. In fact, divided governance has long been a vexing part of the Canada–US relationship. The eight Great Lakes states and Ontario are, by virtue of their geography, routinely required to collaborate on environmental issues and fisheries management, but the struggle between national and binational interests has long challenged legislators. For example, almost 70 years ago, Louis St-Laurent’s Minister of Fisheries, Hon. James Sinclair (a BC resident), recognized the innate national value of the Great Lakes, but also recognized that this binational resource could not be sustained without thinking and acting beyond national boundaries. He knew that a failure to consider and advance US interests would almost certainly spell disaster for our own. Sinclair once noted, “When Great Lakes conservation became an international matter it was obvious that the province of Ontario could not do anything about the decline in lake trout unless action was taken by the United States. These words represent thinking that characterized the St-Laurent Government and allowed them to advance Canada’s interests by punching above our national weight when Canada was a newcomer to the global diplomatic stage.
As a former Minister of State for External Affairs himself, St-Laurent knew that when Canada played well with our allies, progress was easier and longer lasting than when we acted unilaterally. He and his ministers understood that Canada needed to resist the urge to turn inward for solutions to certain challenges because, as a middle-power, Canada was simply unable to accomplish large-scale, transboundary objectives in isolation. This kind of multinational thinking was and continues to be prudent, especially when it relates to files such as the Great Lakes fisheries and international shipping, both of which were the subject of bilateral treaties by the St-Laurent government. Today, almost seventy years later, the wisdom of St-Laurent’s approach remains despite a raucous global political climate that may suggests otherwise. Whether tackling environmental health, shipping, infrastructure, or fisheries management on the Great Lakes, a thoughtful response has proven to be most effective at advancing Canadian interests over the longer-term and it is in this context that our new Great Lakes and St. Lawrence sub-group will function. As Canada continues to tackle its priorities, we would do well to heed the St-Laurent example because fish don’t carry passports and water doesn’t stop at the border. n 9
