Vic Toews, Minister of Public Safety and Member of Parliament for Provencher, on behalf of Canada’s Environment Minister, Jim Prentice, and Manitoba’s Minister of Water Stewardship, Christine Melnick, today signed a Canada-Manitoba Memorandum of Understanding Respecting Lake Winnipeg and the Lake Winnipeg Basin.
The signing of the agreement aims to provide a foundation for a long-term, collaborative and coordinated approach between the two governments to ensure the sustainability and health of Lake Winnipeg and its watershed.
“Restoring the health of Lake Winnipeg, its contributing watershed, and its downstream environment is a collective responsibility of everyone living in the lake’s huge interprovincial and international watershed, covering parts of four provinces and four states in two countries,” said Minister Melnick.
Lake Winnipeg is the tenth largest freshwater lake in the world and is often referred to as Canada’s sixth Great Lake. Water quality in the lake has deteriorated due to excessive nutrients that have caused eutrophication and the development of large algal blooms.
Through Manitoba’s Lake Winnipeg Action Plan and Environment Canada’s Lake Winnipeg Basin Initiative, significant investments have been targeted at reducing nutrient loading to improve the health of Lake Winnipeg and its watershed.
