Essex County council to vote on Great Lakes advocacy after Trump "faucet" comment

Essex County council will consider a motion on Wednesday to ask the federal and provincial governments to address water outflow from the Great Lakes in its dealings with the United States. 

LaSalle Deputy Mayor Mike Akpata says he's bringing forward the motion out of concern over comments made by U.S. President Donald Trump.

"This comment that I'm concerned about was [when] he was speaking with Gavin Newsom during the fires in Los Angeles," Akpata said, referring to Trump's conversation with the governor of California.

"And he said, 'There's a big faucet up north. We just need to turn it on.' That's stuck with me."

Since his election last November, Trump has made a number of statements so incongruous with U.S. policy under previous administrations that many had assumed he wasn't serious – that is, until he levied tariffs on Canada and Mexico in violation of the Canada U.S. Mexico free trade agreement (CUSMA), and threatened the territorial sovereignty of NATO allies Canada and Denmark. 

Akpata said he doesn't believe the U.S. would ignore its agreements with Canada related to the protection of the Great Lakes, but he wouldn't have believed that Trump would impose the tariffs either.

Times have changed, and Canada's relationship with the U.S. has also changed, Akpata added.

"The concern that I have is if you look at LaSalle and Amherstburg and all the municipalities that form the County of Essex, we bring in Great Lakes water to water our plants, to water our crops, to water our families," he said.

"The number of agreements or standard political practices that … have been tossed out by our friends to the south leads me to wonder if that faucet is going to be turned on and what repercussions that could have for Essex County and the municipalities in the county." 

Canada, Akpata said, needs to be proactive and protect the natural resources that keep its citizens alive. 

"For Pete's sake, we'd signed agreements," he said. "But apparently now our border is just a mythical thing and he's talking about moving the border."

The director of the Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research at the University of Windsor said protection of the Great Lakes has historically had bipartisan support in the U.S.

"The Great Lakes Compact is a framework that regulates diversions, encourages water conservation and data collection on water use in the region,"  Mike McKay said.

"Requests for diversions have to go before the Great Lakes Compact before being approved."

Even if U.S. officials did drain water from the lakes sufficient to drop their levels by several centimetres, the impact would be similar to the ones already experienced as a result of climate change, McKay said.

On one hand, he said, a drop in water levels can increase the amount of coastal wetland.

But, on the other, it can decrease access to the water for boaters and increase the amount of work needed to maintain shipping channels.