Water Policy Expert Anticipates Canada Will Block Waukesha’s Great Lakes Application →

WUWM, March 8, 2016
Author: Susan Bence

Under the Great Lakes Compact, in order for Waukesha's application to be approved, all eight of the neighboring Great Lakes states must unanimously agree. The Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec will weigh in, but don’t have a vote.

However, Kehl says Canada has another “vote” mechanism. “Canada will refer back to an ….older treaty from the 1920s about jointly managing the Great Lakes. [It requires] if significant decisions are made about the stewardship of the Great Lakes, both countries would have to agree,” she says.

Kehl believes if the Great Lakes states approve the diversion, Canada will use the treaty. “They will veto at that point, using that mechanism,” she says.