Tuesday, September 15, 2026
A new province-wide survey, conducted in the same fortnight that the U.S. President signed an order renaming Lake Ontario “Lake America,” posted a map showing Canada under the American flag, and imposed 50 per cent tariffs on Canadian goods, finds that British Columbians already treat their fresh water as a matter of national security — and expect their provincial government to defend it.
Ninety per cent of British Columbians agree that “protecting and responsibly managing Canada’s freshwater systems is vital to our national sovereignty and security,” including 53 per cent who strongly agree. Two per cent disagree.
The agreement holds across every political line the survey measured: 86 per cent of BC Conservative supporters, 94 per cent of BC NDP supporters, 94 per cent of BC Green supporters and 93 per cent of undecided voters.
“Sovereignty has been the story of 2026, but British Columbians are not thinking about it only in terms of tariffs and borders,” said Angus McAllister, principal of McAllister Opinion Research, which conducted the survey. “They have already connected the dots: you cannot defend a country whose rivers run dry every July. When a foreign president starts renaming our lakes, people don’t reach for abstractions. They reach for what is theirs — and in this province, that starts with water.”
The survey of 2,005 B.C. adults was conducted August 27 to September 1, 2026, by McAllister Opinion Research for the BC Watershed Security Coalition, a non-partisan alliance of more than 57 organisations representing 285,000 British Columbians. It is the sixth wave in a research program that has tracked B.C. opinion on fresh water since 2010.
British Columbia is in its fourth consecutive summer of water insecurity. Vancouver Island’s snowpack measured zero per cent of normal in June. Rivers and lakes in the Okanagan and Vancouver Island experienced record low flows, wells have run dry, and the province ordered irrigators to stop water use in the Salmon and Bessette watersheds due to risks to endangered salmon runs. The public has noticed:
Seventy-one percent are concerned about the potential for a major water crisis in their own community in the next few years — up from fifty-seven per cent when the identical question was asked in 2018. Ninety-two per cent say the B.C. provincial government should be held accountable for ensuring fresh water is protected and seventy-one per cent agree that strict environmental, health and safety standards should be “the price of doing business in Canada — not the price Canadians pay to attract foreign investment.”
“Canadians are being told that to be strong, we have to build fast,” McAllister said. “British Columbians agree we need a strong government. But seven in ten also say strict standards are the price of doing business here, not a bargaining chip. That is a mandate for building with the water accounted for — not around it.”
Support for practical measures is as broad as the principle. Ninety per cent support strict monitoring and enforcement to protect water sources from toxic spills and industrial activity, while eighty-three per cent support raising water rates for B.C.’s largest industrial users to pay for fresh water protection, after being shown that B.C. charges up to $2.25 per million litres while Quebec charges up to $159.
“Sovereignty is not only a border question. It is whether a country can keep its own communities in water, food and safety through a changing climate,” said Coree Tull, Chair of the BC Watershed Security Coalition. “British Columbians have told the Province, in numbers that cross every party line, what they expect: ensure the largest industrial water users pay a fair rate, put that money into BC’s Watershed Security Fund, and put people to work protecting and rebuilding the natural defences our communities depend on. The challenge isn’t a lack of solutions — it’s a lack of delivery.”
Local governments meet in Victoria this week for the Union of BC Municipalities convention (September 14–18), where resolutions calling for modernised industrial water rates (Lake Country) and a funded provincial framework for local watershed boards (Sunshine Coast Regional District) are on the floor.
“Communities like ours are asked to deliver housing, growth and safe drinking water without the funding or the tools, ” said Justine Gabias, Vice Chair, Sunshine Coast Regional District. “A fair rate on the biggest water users and a funded local watershed board is how we get ahead of the next drought instead of reacting to it.”
The Coalition is asking the Premier and the Ministers of Finance and Water, Land and Resource Stewardship to:
- Make a decision to modernize industrial water rates by October 31, 2026, with revenue dedicated to the Watershed Security Fund.
- Implement a funded framework for local watershed boards or authorities, co-developed with First Nations and local governments, that says who decides, who pays and who must respond.
- Stand up for the Province’s fresh water by securing federal funds to capitalize a $2 Billion Watershed Security Fund to resource monitoring programs and rebuild BC’s natural defences.
Featured image: (Metro Vancouver)
