Canadian officials urged patience during negotiations with the United States to update the Columbia River Treaty, while asserting the nation will not fold in the face of the Trump administration’s unprecedented “threats to Canadian sovereignty.”
The British Columbia Ministry of Energy and Climate Solutions held a public webinar Tuesday night to address ongoing talks over the 60-year-old treaty that governs water storage and hydropower operations in the Columbia River Basin. The Trump administration put those talks on hold last week as it conducts a “broad review of its international engagement.”
“This will require British Columbia, Canada, First Nations, the people of the region to both keep the faith — because we’re going to get there — but also to be resolute in the face of what is really unprecedented action against our country, against our province, against our people,” said Adrian Dix, a British Columbia legislator who also serves as both minister of energy and climate solutions and minister responsible for the Columbia River Treaty.
In an hourlong session that attracted 600 participants, Dix emphasized that it is not unprecedented for cross-border negotiations to pause during presidential transitions.
