How clean is the environment that feeds us?

By Letter to the Editor on August 27, 2020.

It seems such a long time since we have heard anything positive from the Conservatives about the environment that you might think they have forgotten about the air we breathe and the water we drink. Not to mention the dirt that grows our food. Recently, my dog took a swim in an irrigation canal. She was sick for a week, odd-coloured material coming from both ends. Our vet couldn’t help.

I have made inquiries from anyone I think might have information about the chemical composition of the water that feeds the fields that feed us. Everyone seems to assume it should be clean and good. My normally happy and healthy dog would disagree. I am curious if there is any active monitoring of our water systems today. No one I know can tell me the volumes of pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers that are applied to local fields annually. I have read scientists testing the livers and flesh of fish, whales, and seals in the Arctic are amazed at the amount of chemicals that have accumulated in the top predators. One of the great river systems of North America flowing into the Arctic, the Mackenzie, carries chemicals from one of the heaviest industrial disturbed land in Canada. And the Saskatchewan system emptying into the Hudson Bay flows thousands of miles across our prairies.

A few years ago, our current premier was part of the Conservative federal cabinet that eliminated the largest collection of files from research on Canada’s Inland Lakes and River systems. They claimed that the years of collected research data would be available online. I have been searching, but seem unable to find this vast treasure. If there is anyone who can provide access to these eliminated studies, I would appreciate help.

Don Ryane

Lethbridge