Making progress

Yesterday, PMPM promised to deal only with the issues surrounding Kashechewan. Today, his promises have extended to dealing with drinking water issues on reserves across the country:

Prime Minister Paul Martin said Friday that the government will do “whatever is necessary” to make drinking water safe on Canada's native reserves, including committing more federal dollars.

He said a government program already in place will provide $1.6-billion to correct what he calls a 100-year-old problem on reserves.

In 2001, Indian Affairs found that nearly one-third of 740 water systems tested in native communities posed a potential high risk of poor water quality. Only 25 per cent were in the low- or no-risk category, the study reported.

There's still plenty of reason to be suspicious, particularly given the lack of any apparent action over the 4 years since the study addressing on-reserve water quality. And it can't be a good sign that Martin seems to think that present commitments will deal with the problem.

But at the very least, the Liberals seem to be very much aware that they can't pretend the current problem lies only on Kashechewan...with the result that a meaningful nationwide plan may not be out of the question in the near future.