County councillor seeks strengthened water pacts amid U.S. unpredictability

An aerial view along Wasaga Beach. (Getty Images/iStockphoto) (SkyF/Getty Images/iStockphoto)

As attention remains firmly on U.S.-Canada trade decisions, a member of Essex County Council feels action is needed to shore up fresh water agreements.

A notice of motion put forward by Michael Akpata, LaSalle’s Deputy Mayor and a county council member, calls for more advocacy and steps to ensure current agreements are not violated.

In an interview with CTV News, Akpata said his motion stems from “disparaging” comments made by U.S. President Donald Trump.

“That’s our water, and when I say ours, I don’t mean mine. I mean the water that Ontario has, that Canada has, and that we draw our drinking water from,” Akpata said.

In September 2024, then a Republican presidential nominee, Trump hinted at Canada as a solution to bring water to drought-stricken California.

“You have millions of gallons of water pouring down from the north with the snow caps and Canada, and all pouring down and they essentially have a very large faucet,” Trump said at a press conference near Los Angeles.

Referencing sweeping tariffs imposed by Trump despite the USMCA trade agreement, Akpata said they can’t trust the president to follow other previously established agreements.

“I simply want to make sure that those the municipalities in the county of Essex that draw their water from the Great Lakes basin are still able to draw water,” Akpata added.

Opening a path to allow the U.S. to drain existing waterways “at an alarming rate” would be dangerous, Akpata said.

Of the five Great Lakes, Canada and the U.S. share access to Lakes Erie, Ontario, Superior and Huron.

Long-standing agreements and treaties have ensured strict protections to maintain the waterways.

“We have some reasonable people who understand bilateral trade, who understand multinational agreements, and it’s simply to put the words of their own strategic plan about water equity back in front of the group that signed it,” Akpata said.

The motion calls for advocacy from the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, and further steps from Canada’s federal and provincial governments.

“As long as our municipalities have pipes that go into the Great Lakes water basin that draws our fresh drinking water, is purified at the requisite plants, that provide clean, sterile drinking water to our residents, we are the number one touch point for water,” he said.

Akpata’s motion will be debated at the next Essex County Council meeting on Wednesday night.