environmental law--Canada, environmental law--United States, Great Lake

Robinson, J. Michael

English

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Session 9: Canada and U.S. Approaches to the Great Lakes - Environmental and Economic Aspects

Case Western Reserve University School of Law

Canada-United States Law JournalVolume 31 | Issue Article 40January 2005Session 9: Canada and U.S. Approaches to theGreat Lakes - Environmental and EconomicAspectsJ. Michael RobinsonFollow this and additional works at: https://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/cusljPart of the Transnational Law CommonsThis Speech is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Journals at Case Western Reserve University School of Law Scholarly Commons.It has been accepted for inclusion in Canada-United States Law Journal by an authorized administrator of Case Western Reserve University School ofLaw Scholarly Commons.Recommended CitationJ. Michael Robinson, Session 9: Canada and U.S. Approaches to the Great Lakes - Environmental and Economic Aspects, 31 Can.-U.S. L.J.285 (2005)Available at: https://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/cuslj/vol31/iss/40SESSION 9: CANADA AND U.S. APPROACHES TO THE GREATLAKES - ENVIRONMENTAL AND ECONOMIC ASPECTS.INTRODUCTIONJ. Michael RobinsonOkay. I am going to start. Thank you - thank you very much, ladies andgentlemen, for coming down so promptly. As was mentioned, Herb Gray hasa plane to catch this afternoon, the connections being lousy now betweenCleveland and Ottawa and Toronto, thanks, I guess, to Mr. Milton and AirCanada, but Mr. Gray did want to leave time for questions, so I am going totruncate the introduction and let him get right to it.It really is a privilege to be asked to introduced the Right Honorable HerbGray, who is fast approaching legendary status in Canadian politics, thirty-nine and a half years in the Canadian House of Commons, and it should benoted that the "Right Honorable" title is usually only given to prime minis-ters and a few others. Mr. Gray was Deputy Prime Minister, but this honorwas bestowed on him when he retired from the House. There are only sixteenliving Canadians that are Right Honorable, not just plain Honorable.When he retired, he was still full of energy as well as wisdom, and every-body assumed that he could have had any one of those nice cushy appoint-ments like Quarter St. James, where he could put on a little sword andbreeches and go appear before the Queen and all that fun stuff. Distinguishedveterans get that sort of appointment, and he instead chose to work, and hastaken challenging and difficult jobs as Joint Chair, the Canadian Chair, of theInternational Joint Commission (IJC), and he will explain how that works.He must have known that this job would become more and more essentialand critical to Canada and U.S. interests as the next North American shortage- we heard about - of energy becomes more urgent, and that's water. You'veheard various suggestions this morning and yesterday that Canada may haveto play hardball on certain assets that we have in order to get certain relieffrom problems that we may have from the U.S. And now that the U.S. hasidentified that secure sources of oil and gas are critical to the future of theU.S., I think the U.S. is going to recognize more and more - especially frompeople speaking from the Southwest, now almost into a decade in drought -that secure sources of water have even a bigger need for the future. Gas cancome to the U.S. as LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas), concentrated by freezing,from anywhere in the world, but water has to come from Canada. Mexico1Robinson: Session 9: Canada and U.S. Approaches to the Great Lakes - EnviroPublished by Case Western Reserve University School of Law Scholarly Commons, 2005286 CANADA-UNITED STATES LA WJOURNAL [Vol. 31 ]certainly doesn't have a surplus, and when water is frozen, it is ice and notcompacted like LNG.I also discussed briefly with Mr. Gray over lunch, and he said he will tryand deal with a question that has confused me, perhaps because I am not wellenough informed, namely: Why does the federal government of Canada and,indeed, of the U.S., allow these uppity states and provinces on the GreatLakes to negotiate and run around and sign agreements, when the ultimatedecider is supposed to be the federal governments of Canada and the U.S. onthese Boundary Waters under the Treaty, which has existed since 1909, andwhich has established the International Joint Commission? So he may dealwith that in his remarks. If not, I will ask him again. So without further ado,Mr. Gray, the floor is yours.(Applause.)2Canada-United States Law Journal, Vol. 31 [2005], Iss. , Art. 40https://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/cuslj/vol31/iss/40

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Session 9: Canada and U.S. Approaches to the Great Lakes - Environmental and Economic Aspects

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