rabble.ca Canadian federal election blog

NAFTA does threaten water exports

Today, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said that he “re-affirms Canada’s position that the North American Free Trade Agreement cannot require Canada to export bulk water to other NAFTA countries.” This is simply not true.

Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow and national water campaigner Meera Karunananthan tell the fuller story in “Policy Drought: The Harper government’s mismanagement of Canada’s water,” a chapter in the recently released Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives book The Harper Record.

They write, “The Harper government continues to deny the threat of growing pressure from the United States to import Canada’s water, and has disregarded repeated calls from the Canadian public to ban bulk water exports…NAFTA defines water as a ‘service’ and an ‘investment’. This means that, once a province lifts its voluntary ban on bulk water exports, NAFTA rules will take effect to prevent our governments from restricting such exports. Both Ontario and Newfoundland, at different times, have attempted to lift the ban in order to allow corporations to export water in bulk. Both provinces eventually backed away from the plan, but only after intense public pressure.”

Mr. Harper would do well to remember that an April 2008 Environics poll commissioned by the Council of Canadians shows that 88 percent of Canadians believe that Canada should adopt a comprehensive national water policy that recognizes clean drinking water as a basic human right and also bans the bulk export of fresh water.

Brent Patterson is the Director of Campaigns and Communications for the Council of Canadians.