Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham pledged yesterday to push U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell to back Canada's request for an International Joint Commission review of the Devils Lake outlet project. Graham told the Commons that he has raised the controversial water project with Powell and the Americans for years and will use this week's meeting at the White House to lobby for the IJC review. "I can assure the honourable member and members of the House that we have requested the United States, and I will be speaking to Mr. Powell when I see him later this week, to move this matter to the International Joint Commission," Graham said. "This needs a review. It has to be a joint Canada-U.S. review. We have to protect our border waters from one side or the other polluting it without the will of the other party." Graham's comments came as NDP MP Pat Martin urged him to take immediate action to protect Manitoba waterways from the project to create an outlet at the North Dakota lake. "As we speak, bulldozers are at work to divert dirty, polluted water from Devils Lake, N.D. into the Red River and Lake Winnipeg," said the Winnipeg Centre MP. "This inter-basin transfer of water poses a serious threat to Manitoba's aquatic ecosystem. Would the minister of foreign affairs assure the House he will urge the Americans to refer this clear violation of the boundary waters treaty to the International Joint Commission and will he further urge them to stop construction of this diversion until the IJC can present its findings?" Martin said he is satisfied Graham has opted to go to the IJC but worries it may come too late. The IJC will only begin its work if there is a joint request, meaning the United States must also agree to refer the matter to the panel, established under the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909.
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