Your dock goes on the docket

Your dock goes on the docket: After deregulation, many cottagers and municipalities will find themselves navigating the courts (Ryan Tacay /iStockphoto)

Your dock goes on the docket

 

The proposed amendments would build a time machine to send navigation law back to the 1800s

Will Amos and Ian Miron, The Globe and Mail, Thursday, Nov. 08 2012,

A heads-up to Canada’s paddlers, anglers, cottagers and outdoor recreation enthusiasts: The rules that protect navigation on 99 per cent of Canada’s lakes and rivers are changing dramatically. And you may not appreciate the deregulatory surprises that await you once the federal government passes Bill C-45, its second omnibus bill of 2012.

Buried within the bill’s pages are drastic changes to the Navigable Waters Protection Act. The end result? Litigation will become the new regulation as private citizens find they have no choice but to turn to the courts to uphold their navigation rights. 

Read more here

Navigable Waters Act at committee one last time

The Ottawa River is one of just 62 rivers in Canada that will remain governed by the new Navigation Protection Act. The proposed changes to the old Navigable Waters Protection Act are before a Commons committee in Ottawa Tuesday. (Pawel Dwulit/Canadian Press)

Navigable Waters Act at committee one last time

130-year-old law being replaced with legislation focusing on just 162 waterways

by Max Paris, Environment Unit, CBC News Nov 6, 2012

Two hours of Transport Committee hearings Tuesday will be the last word the House of Commons hears on the 130-year-old Navigable Waters Protection Act.

The Act is to be replaced by the Navigation Protection Act, a piece of legislation included in bill C-45, the government's second omnibus Budget Implementation Act.

"We're losing our tools to protect fresh water and our federal government is really getting rid of their responsibility to protect our waterways," argues Meredith Brown, the Ottawa Riverkeeper, a watchdog group that monitors water quality in the Ottawa River and its tributaries.

The Ottawa is one 62 rivers, 97 lakes and three oceans that will be protected under the new act. The old act protected every body of water you could float a canoe in and required ministerial approval to be sought for any structure that went over, under or through a waterway.

Brown worries about who will protect the thousands of rivers and lakes that won't be covered under the new act.

Read more here
 

NOTE: There are 125 reader comments at the end of this article

Navigable waters act changes (Canada)

130-year-old law being replaced with legislation focusing on just 162 waterways

Photo,

Bruno Schlumberger, Ottawa Citizen

Diving into Navigable Waters

Ottawa Citizen  
Editorial
October 31, 2012

Does the federal government have a role to play in construction of the cottage docks and waterslides of the nation?

Canada’s Navigable Waterways Protection Act — which dates back to 1882 and was brought in under Sir John A. Macdonald — says the federal government has a role in anything that could interfere with the navigation of Canada’s lakes, river and ocean shores. Common law supports that. The federal government, which is attempting to streamline the act as part of its latest omnibus budget bill, says its current role is far too broad.

Read more here