The Manitoba and North Dakota governments have been fighting in court over Devil’s Lake.
The quarrel has spilled over, with one North Dakota newspaper recommending a boycott of travel to Canada and many Manitobans threatening to spurn their upriver neighbour.
But at a meeting of legislators from Manitoba, North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota, little rancour was evident.
The politicians met one day after the North Dakota state supreme court refused to stop the imminent dumping of Devil’s Lake water into the northward flowing Red River.
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Citizens may be upset, but legislators and regulators have grown used to balancing disputes with co-operation on other matters.
“It’s one issue among many issues, and we have a long history of co-operation with Manitoba, and I don’t want the Devil’s Lake issue to be the defining issue,” said David Glatt, chief of the environmental health unit of the North Dakota department of health.
Officials from the three states and Manitoba have been meeting yearly since 2000 to discuss common issues, something Manitoba agriculture minister and deputy premier Rosann Wowchuk said has brought Canada allies.
One of the first issues the Legislator’s Forum dealt with was pesticide harmonization. Many American canola growers have not been able to get their hands on the newest products their Manitoba neighbours are using, while Manitoba soybean and corn growers are constantly annoyed at not being able to apply products in common use in North Dakota.
Wowchuk said Minnesota and South Dakota legislators have also supported Manitoba’s efforts in fighting tariffs on Canadian hog sales to U.S. buyers. Many Minnesota hog feeders rely on Canadian weanlings and the Sioux Falls slaughter plant in South Dakota relies on Manitoba market hogs.
“We can’t make changes here, but we can become more aware of the challenges and put the pressure on federal jurisdictions in both countries to move issues along,” Wowchuk said.
Minnesota house of representatives member Morrie Lanning said he hopes the protracted Devil’s Lake dispute does not undermine cross-border co-operation. Lanning, a founder of the Red River Basin Commission, has supported allowing North Dakota to dump out excess water from Devil’s Lake, but has called for the water to be filtered and treated before reaching the Red.
“I think it’s feasible. I think it’s reasonable,” said Lanning. “I like to see neighbours get together to try to co-operatively work out solutions recognizing the concerns of all parties,” he said.
