McGill University Conference on a New Canadian Water Policy

(BY HUGO)

The focus of this year's annual MISC Conference at McGill University is «Canadian Water: Towards a New Strategy».

The Conference will be held on March 25-26, 2010, and will feature key participants from the international development sector such as Margaret Catley-Carlson, and some prominent Canadian academics in water management such as Rob de Loë, Karen Bakker, Madeleine Cantin Cumyn and Linda Nowlan.

The participation of the Honourable Jim Prentice, Canadian Minister of the Environment, and Scott Vaughan, Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development from the Office of the Auditor General of Canada, marks this conference as a high level event for water management in Canada.

(Of note, the Commissioner recently released reports critical of the implementation of two federal legal regimes important for the management of water-related resources - the Fisheries Act and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act)

Could this conference serve as the spring board for a new federal water management framework? The previous one dates back to 1987 and arguably needs to be revamped.