OTTAWA -- Glacier cover in the Canadian Rockies is nearing its lowest point
in 10,000 years and water levels on the St. Lawrence Seaway have fallen
significantly in the last century, according to the federal government's latest
compilation of environmental statistics.
While the country's water resources diminish, however, consumption by Canadians
is among the highest per capita in the world.
About 1,300 of Canada's glaciers have lost between 25 per cent and 75 per cent
of their mass since 1850, Statistics Canada said Wednesday in a report entitled
Human Activity and the Environment: Annual Statistics. Most of the losses have
been recorded in the last 50 years.
"Along the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains, glacier cover is receding
rapidly and is now close to its lowest level in 10,000 years," the report said.
On the St. Lawrence, levels at Montreal "averaged two metres above the long-term ...