Bill S-211

2nd Session, 40th Parliament,

57 Elizabeth II, 2009

senate of canada

BILL S-211

An Act to require the Minister of the Environment to establish, in co-operation with the provinces, an agency with the power to identify and protect Canada’s watersheds that will constitute sources of drinking water in the future

Whereas Canada’s drinking water sources are threatened by land use and development that may have an impact on the quality of the water and its suitability as drinking water;

Whereas the need for clean, safe drinking water is increasing in all regions of Canada;

Whereas the legislative powers that relate to the protection of watershed areas are under both federal and provincial jurisdiction;

And whereas there is urgent need for federal and provincial governments to protect Canada’s drinking water sources for the future;

Now, therefore, Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows:

1. This Act may be cited as the Drinking Water Sources Act.

2. The following definitions apply in this Act.

“agency” means the federal-provincial agency referred to in subsection 3(3).

“drinking water” means water for human consumption.

“Minister” means the Minister of the Environment.

“protected watershed” means a watershed in respect of which the Minister issues a protection order referred to in paragraph 3(3)(f).

“provincial minister” means a minister of the Crown of a province who is responsible for the protection of, and approval of the use of, public lands in the province and the quality of drinking water in the province.

“watershed” means an area in which natural precipitation collects naturally or as a result of artificial works or both, and from which it flows to a place from which drinking water is purified and distributed.

3. (1) The Minister shall consult with every provincial minister in order to conclude a federal-provincial agreement dealing with the matters specified in subsection (3).

(2) The Minister shall consult with the Minister of Health and the Minister of Natural Resources with respect to the principles that should govern the federal-provincial agreement.

(3) The agreement referred to in subsection (1) shall

(a) establish a process by which a protected watershed may be defined by agreement between the federal government and the government of any province in which it is situated;

(b) specify the basis for establishing a federal-provincial agency to regulate the proposed or existing use of land within a protected watershed;

(c) specify the means by which the agency will have the authority to regulate the existing or proposed use of land within a protected watershed;

(d) specify the means by which the agency will be authorized, in conjunction with the Minister and the provincial minister for the province in which the land is situated, to issue permits governing the use of land within a protected watershed and to enforce federal and provincial laws respecting that land;

(e) establish a process to be administered by the agency to define the anticipated needs of every municipality in Canada for drinking water until the year 2050 and to identify and define the watersheds from which the drinking water will be drawn in each case; and

(f) establish an outline of legislation to be introduced in Parliament and in the legislature of every province in order to enable the steps described in paragraphs (a) to (e) to be carried out and to authorize the Minister, with the agreement of the provincial minister concerned, to issue protection orders respecting watersheds identified and defined by the process described in paragraph (e).

4. (1) The Minister shall, on or before December 31 of the year after the year in which this Act receives royal assent,

(a) conclude the agreement referred to in section 3; or

(b) present to both the Senate and the House of Commons a statement of the reasons why the agreement has not been concluded and an estimate of the time when it will be concluded.

(2) The Minister shall introduce in a House of Parliament, within the first five days on which the House is sitting following the expiration of ninety days after the day on which the agreement referred to in section 3 is concluded, a bill to establish the agency and carry out any other provisions of the agreement that require legislative authority.