With less than two weeks before the Ontario election, only two of the four main parties have outlined specific policies on the Great Lakes.

The Liberals have outlined that they will: "defend Ontario's precious water resources for future generations with a Great Lakes Protection Act and launch a fund that will reduce water pollution and make our beaches cleaner." They have also committed $52 million to clean up the Great Lakes. Originally, the Ontario Liberal platform promised $4 million per year over the next four years.

Hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as "fracking," is an issue that is increasingly being seen in the media. Fracking is a process used to extract shale gas using vertical and horizontal drilling. Sand, water and chemicals are release at high pressure to fracture shale where natural gas is trapped.

Waterlife is an important award-winning documentary about the perils facing the Great Lakes and the threat to the last huge supply of fresh water on Earth. It will air on History Television on August 15, 2011 at 9 p.m.

Director: Kevin MacMahon
Narrated by the The Tragically Hip's Gord Downie. Featuring music by Sam Roberts, Sufjan Stevens, Sigur Ros, Robbie Robertson and Brian Eno.

Maude Barlow (National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians), Anil Naidoo (Blue Planet Organizer) and I were in New York City this week to participate in events commemorating the one year anniversary of the UN General Assembly (GA) resolution on the human right to water and sanitation.

On Wednesday morning, joined by colleagues from Food and Water Watch, Corporate Accountability International and Michigan State University, we met with Catarina de Albuquerque, the first UN Special Rapporteur on the right to safe drinking water and sanitation. We discussed how to advance and make concrete the historic UN resolutions passed last year recognizing water and sanitation as a fundamental human right.