Posted: April 21, 2025

5 questions to ask your federal election candidates in 2025

To help raise awareness of the challenges facing the Ottawa River, we urge you to ask your local candidates the five essential questions below, and use your vote to advocate for the Ottawa River.

The federal government plays an important role in funding the protection of Canada’s watersheds. And yet, during this federal election, federal parties have been largely silent on the issues facing the health of Canada’s rivers, despite being a nation rich with water.

To help raise awareness of these challenges, we urge you to ask your local candidates the five essential questions below, and use your vote to advocate for the Ottawa River.

#1 – Does the Ottawa River matter to you?

The Ottawa River watershed is unique, and yet it has been uniquely ignored. Did you know that the Ottawa River watershed was excluded from the St Lawrence watershed during the federal government’s determination of priority watersheds? That’s despite the Ottawa being the largest tributary of the St Lawrence, and, at times, its flow sometimes surpasses that from the Great Lakes. That means the Ottawa River, like many freshwater rivers that fall outside of the limited priority watersheds, is not eligible for many federal funding programs that support research and engagement.

Ask your candidates if they will advance the needs of the Ottawa River and its watershed in parliament, taking a stand to protect the river from which they will get their drinking water while in Ottawa. 

#2 – How will you respect Indigenous water rights?

Much of the Ottawa River watershed is the unceded, unsurrendered territory of the Anishinābeg Algonquin Nation, who remain the ongoing stewards of these lands and waters. Collaboration with Indigenous communities for scientific monitoring, traditional knowledge, governance, and conservation is critical to protecting this watershed for future generations. 

Ask your candidates if they will stand by and uphold the rights of these communities, and help fund programs like the Guardians programs and conservation projects like Kidjīmāninān and Neyagada Wàbandàngakì. 

#3 – Will you invest in natural solutions?

Climate change isn’t just coming, it is here. We are already seeing the impacts on the Ottawa River watershed. One way to provide greater resilience is to adopt nature-based solutions to help aquatic ecosystems mitigate changes in flow, restore habitat, and protect both biodiversity and communities from further changes. 

Ask your candidates if they will take the action needed to confront climate change; both the source of this issue, as well as to mitigate the potential impacts it will have on our ecosystems and communities. 

#4 – Will you take action on pollution?

We are facing a barrage of new and emerging pollutants. From “forever chemicals” such as PFAS to radioactive waste, microplastics, and the road salt we spread every winter, these contaminants are becoming more prevalent in our ecosystems. Many of these stick around for decades, centuries, or even forever. We need to do more to prevent these pollutants from entering our waterways. 

Ask your candidates what they know about current regulations and what actions they will take to prevent harmful substances from contaminating rivers for generations to come. 

#5 – Will you support better monitoring and data?

We said it at the start of this series, and we’ll say it again: the Ottawa River watershed is unique, and yet it has been uniquely ignored. There are massive holes in our understanding of the health of the river and the impact of development and climate change on the watershed. We need consistent, robust data collection, ongoing monitoring, and more analysis to understand what the river needs if we are ever going to confront the threats that face it. 

Ask your candidates if they will support community science, funding for additional environmental monitoring, and better collaboration and data sharing across jurisdictions. Together, we can work to paint a better picture of the Ottawa River watershed and ensure it remains healthy into the future!

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