{"id":595,"date":"2025-05-16T11:26:24","date_gmt":"2025-05-16T19:26:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theholmteam.ca\/?p=595"},"modified":"2025-05-17T11:41:08","modified_gmt":"2025-05-17T19:41:08","slug":"columbia-treaty-60-years-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theholmteam.ca\/index.php\/2025\/05\/16\/columbia-treaty-60-years-on\/","title":{"rendered":"Columbia Treaty – 60 Years On"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Columbia Treaty is basically an international catch and release agreement for water.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

Canada. as the upstream partner, build large reservoirs to hold the water back and agreed to release it in accordance with US needs for flood control, energy production, fish flushes and – very importantly – irrigation. \u00a0 The US paid for the construction of the Canadian dams and pays Canada for downstream benefits based on very low, hydroelectric generation rates, despite the fact that the use they put that water to often has considerably higher value.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

The irrigation of 500,000 acres of land in the Columbia Basin that was transformed from “heat, wheat and rattlesnakes” to high-valued, irrigated crops (potatoes, onions, tree fruit, vegetables) virtually overnight.\u00a0 Ripening a few weeks earlier than their farther north BC cousins, these newly irrigated competitors displaced BC crops in their home market and reduced the income of BC farmers.<\/span><\/p>\n

As an Agrologist, I was asked to look into the economic impact the Columbia Treaty had on BC farmers.\u00a0 Below are a few of my columns summarizing those findings:<\/p>\n

Aug 1994 \u2013 Lament for a Nation Part II: the taking of Canada\u2019s water.<\/a><\/p>\n

Apr 1995 \u2013 Questions on the Columbia Treaty downstream benefit.<\/a><\/p>\n

Aug 1995 \u2013 Dare to be\u2026 A soliloquy to the CITT.<\/a><\/p>\n

Oct 1995 \u2013 The Holm Stretch \u2013 ensure farmers get their share of Treaty benefits.<\/a><\/p>\n

Apr 1996 \u2013 poz\u2019e tive eks\u2019tern al\u2019 etes.<\/a><\/p>\n

Dec \u2013 Give BC farming a super present.<\/a><\/p>\n

Sep 1997 \u2013 Paleolithic economics \u2013 time for new stone age.<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

More recently, in 2013, I was asked by Columbia Basin residents to weigh in on Canada’s interest in the future of the Columbia Treaty, ratified in 1964.\u00a0 \u00a0 As negotiations are on pause in the face of Trump’s attack on Canada, I pulled it out to look at some of the implications of terminating the agreement.\u00a0\u00a0 Click the link below for 60 Years On…\u00a0 Options for the Columbia and the Community at the end of the Treaty Period<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.theholmteam.ca\/60.Years.On.NAKUSP.Apr.2013.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Columbia Treaty is basically an international catch and release agreement for water.\u00a0 Canada. as the upstream partner, build large reservoirs to hold the water back and agreed to release it in accordance with US needs for flood control, energy production, fish flushes and – very importantly – irrigation. \u00a0 The US paid for the construction of the Canadian dams and pays Canada for downstream benefits based on very low, hydroelectric generation rates, despite the fact that the use they put that water to often has considerably higher value.\u00a0 The irrigation of 500,000 acres of land in the Columbia Basin … Continue reading Columbia Treaty – 60 Years On<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[82,86],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hot-topics","category-water-and-trade","has-post-thumbnail","fallback-thumbnail"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theholmteam.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theholmteam.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theholmteam.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theholmteam.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theholmteam.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=595"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/theholmteam.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/595\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":683,"href":"https:\/\/theholmteam.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/595\/revisions\/683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theholmteam.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theholmteam.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theholmteam.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}