The Canada Water Act, 1970: Did Parliamentarians Seek Cooperative Federalism?

In 1970, freshwater pollution concerns led to the introduction of the Clean Water Act (CWA), which signaled the federal government's shift towards cooperative federalism in the shared constitutional space of water governance. A unilateral environmental federalism approach supported the enactment of the CWA and reinforced the new two‐prong regulatory strategy (i.e., CWA and the Fisheries Act) to manage water pollution. This article explores the historical enactment of the CWA through the lens of federalism and the views of parliamentarians. The legislative debates reveal how different modes of federalism play out in the legislation, beyond the dominant theme of cooperative federalism.