Fresh water emerged as an important issue of federal policy in the mid 1960s, and federal water programs grew in size and variety over the ensuing two decades. The 1984 Inquiry on Federal Water Policy focused public attention on the growing problems of water management in Canada, and provided the basis for the Federal Water Policy statement tabled in Parliament in 1987. That statement prescribed important new federal initiatives in water management. Since then, however, water programs have been subsumed by broader economic and environmental concerns. Recent events indicate a declining priority for water at Environment Canada, the leading federal water agency, giving rise to new problems for policymakers.
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