Riverkeeper calls for community-based decision making
- Wednesday, March 16, 2011
All around the Ottawa River Watershed there are plans in the making. Plans to build dams, plans to take more water, plans to dump more sewage into the river, plans to build on floodplains, plans to develop houses and industries where forests, wetlands and agricultural lands have been silently providing our communities with natural capital.
We have rules and regulations with consequences for non-compliance to help protect our shared resources. Sometimes the rules and decisions that are made do not adequately reflect the wishes of the community, nor do they consider those that will be most directly impacted by the project.
Can we rely on our municipal, provincial and federal governments to make the right decisions when conceiving and/or approving these projects? Government decision-makers have an important role to play; there is no doubt in my mind. However, to protect the interests and resilience of local communities we absolutely need to have community input into decisions that can have long-lasting impacts on our shared resources. Keep in mind that community input often includes independent, science-based facts from professionals, local and traditional knowledge or ideas for innovative solutions that have been successful in other communities around the world. Often, decision-makers brush off well-intentioned and knowledgeable citizens as “radicals”, “dissenters” or “environmentalists” when this most often is not the case. In my experience from working on issues throughout the Ottawa River Watershed, these “radicals” are valued and respected community members who are taking time from their busy lives to influence decisions that will make their community a better place to live while maintaining an economy to meet our needs.
Experts in the fields of economics, public health and resource management agree that local decision-making results in better outcomes that benefit the people in the region and protect critical resources. Elinor Ostrom, a political economist and Nobel Prize recipient, uses her public choice theory to explain how political decision-making often results in outcomes that conflict with the preferences of the general public. Ostrom presents numerous case studies to support her conviction that problems should be solved as locally as possible, in cooperation with government.
Last night in La Pêche, Quebec, I participated in a public consultation held by the MRC des Collines-de-l’Outaouais regarding a proposed septage treatment facility that is needed for the seven municipalities that make up the MRC. Experts with impressive credentials testified, farmers who serve our region added local knowledge and sound advice, and most importantly, over 400 people who want to ensure the MRC is making decisions in the best interest of the public were present. The message we gave our elected officials was quite clear: we need to protect the Gatineau River at all costs as it is our most important resource and adds significant value to our regional economy.
The MRC has an opportunity to be leaders in water protection as they claimed to be when they received a 5-year grant from the provincial government to roll out the H20 des Collines project to “ensure that we preserve our community’s high level of water quality and quantity into the future”. They also have an opportunity (and a responsibility) to leave our next generation with the legacy of an amazing river where we can safely swim, drink and fish. To rise to this great challenge we must develop mutual trust and respect and this will require transparency with decision-making and collaboration and information sharing among experts, community leaders and the municipal leaders that we have elected to represent our best interest.
I hope our elected officials left the consultation with intentions to strengthen and expand the inadequate solutions that have been proposed to date and ensure due diligence to present fact-based and well-justified recommendations. The people of the MRC will only settle for a solution that solves our septic waste issue in a sustainable manner.
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