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09:17 -0400
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URL:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/06/16/condemned-lakes.html

(see also: Globe and Mail)

From the article:

CBC News has learned that 16 Canadian lakes are slated to be officially but quietly "reclassified" as toxic dump sites for mines. The lakes include prime wilderness fishing lakes from B.C. to Newfoundland.

Environmentalists say the process amounts to a "hidden subsidy" to mining companies, allowing them to get around laws against the destruction of fish habitat.

...

A local environmentalist who attended the Long Harbour meeting, Chad Griffiths, said of Sandy Pond: “It's easy enough to consider just one lake as just one lake, as a needed sacrifice, right? But it's not one lake … It's a trend. It's an open season on Canadian water.”

Blegh. Stupid government.

Read the article.

I have nothing more to add.

Update: CBC followup story: Fisheries minister defends the move. I like the reader's comment on the story that says:

I can remember back when the Fisheries Minister's job was to protect fish habitat, not peddle it to the highest bidder