Freshwater is in great supply across much of Canada. However, competing and changing demands on its use are leading to ever more complex political arrangements. This volume offers an integrated survey of that complexity, combining historical and contemporary cases in a conceptually-informed exploration of water politics. It offers a set of tools, frameworks, and applications that enable readers to recognize and explore the political dimensions of freshwater.

The opening chapters introduce core concepts such as power, organized interests, knowledge systems, and the state. They are followed by chapters discussing freshwater subsectors including fisheries, irrigation, flood control, hydropower, and groundwater. A series of topical themes is
addressed, including salmon conservation, Aboriginal water interests, hydraulic fracturing, regulatory revisions, and interjurisdictional management. A final section explores emerging trends in freshwater governance.

While river catchments are not always the principal denominator in discussions of water politics, they do provide a primary frame of reference for this book. A watershed case study accompanies each chapter. This watershed grounding is intended to encourage readers to turn their attention to local and regional conditions.

Peter Clancy is a Professor of Political Science and an associate with Interdisciplinary Studies in Aquatic Resources (ISAR) at St. Francis Xavier University. He has written extensively in the areas of business-government relations, the politics of resource management, and Northern Canada studies. His books include Against the Grain: Foresters and Politics in Nova Scotia (UBC Press, 2000) and The Savage Years: The Perils of Reinventing Government in Nova Scotia (Formac Publishing, 2000).

Peter Clancy's profile page

Clancy's work explores how examining water politics at the local/regional level is critical to ground the approaches to the nuance of place, but it also shows how global politics and trends cannot be ignored. Valuable for students, scholars, and general readers interested in water governance and policy.

<i>CHOICE</i>

This book provides an interesting approach to documenting the complexity of political issues in governing water and how decisions are made in managing water in Canada. It is a valiant effort to cover a very wide range of water issues with some historical background and illustrative examples in 10 case studies.

<i>Canadian Water Resources Journal</i>

Unlike a substantial portion of the water politics/governance literature, Freshwater Politics in Canada puts to good use contributions from the discipline of history. Indeed, one of Clancy's central findings is that the power structures shaping modern water politics were forged in the past, and an understanding of how these structures and politics have changed over time is vital if one hopes to comprehend contemporary policy.

<i>Environmental History</i>