[Kory Yamashita]

Marcarc, have you read Jack Layton's book?? <br /> <br />He talks about one of his experiences as a City Councillor in Toronto. At one point, there was a water shortage, and conventional thought chose the path of searching out new water treatment plants, pumping stations, etc. Then Layton brought forward the idea of conservation. <br /> <br />They did a cost analysis and found out that it would actually be cheaper to outfit a bunch of high-rise downtown homes with government-funded low-water showerheads, toilets, etc. <br /> <br />So rather than putting more stress on the system and expanding the system to accommodate it, he simply provided people with the means to reduce usage in their homes. And it was cheaper than a new water treatment plant. <br /> <br />That's the kind of thinking we need from our government.

[Marcarc]

My point wasn't so much about water conservation, which really still isn't on the radar-although getting closer all the time, but more about the sharing of canadian water. At first glance it seems a sovereignty issue, however, what do we do when southern US says "well, you won't give us any water so we won't ship food there". Personally, I think more self reliance is in order as far as agriculture goes, but the country seems headed in the opposite direction.

[Perturbed]

[QUOTE BY= Marcarc] My point wasn't so much about water conservation, which really still isn't on the radar-although getting closer all the time, but more about the sharing of canadian water. At first glance it seems a sovereignty issue, however, what do we do when southern US says "well, you won't give us any water so we won't ship food there". Personally, I think more self reliance is in order as far as agriculture goes, but the country seems headed in the opposite direction.[/QUOTE] <br /> <br /> <br />Agreed, and it s abig problem. We should be building government-funded (if not owned) greenhouses, and protecting our farm land--especially the pristine land in southern ontario. <br /> <br />We will eventually have to move communities in the 905 area of Toronto off our best farm land if we want to have food independence--a must IMO, as radical as it may sound, and as impossible it maybe politically right now.