LACK OF MEDIA REPORTING OF THE GLWQA

The 2012 Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (GLWQA) was signed by Canada and the United States in order to both restore and protect the five shared Great Lakes in North America, namely Superior, Huron, Michigan, Erie and Ontario. This protection and restoration includes shorelines, wetlands and groundwater entering the Great Lakes. Friend and colleague Dr. Henry Regier sent me an e-mail package today which includes the 2019 Progress Report of the Parties. The Great Lakes Executive Committee (GLEC) are meeting today and tomorrow in Toronto for discussions on these matters.

Both Canada and the United States have designated Areas of Concern (AOC). In Canada we have been able to delist (ie. fully remediate) three of them namely Collingwood Harbour (1994), Severn Sound (2003) and Wheatley Harbour (2010). There are fourteen more AOCs in Canada with Ontario obviously hosting them. One includes the St. Lawrence River at Cornwall which is extremely close to the province of Quebec.

So clearly the GLWQA should be of concern to all Canadians but especially to Ontarians. Where are the updates in our media whether newspapers, television or radio? Why are we not kept abreast of all developments whether good or bad regarding the cleanup and remediation of these sites around the Great Lakes? Why so far is this Toronto meeting of the GLEC not front and centre in the news cycle?