Water is vital to people's health and livelihoods. In Canada, there is no national strategy to address urgent water issues and no federal leadership to conserve and protect our water. The Federal Water Policy is over 20 years old and badly outdated. Our freshwater faces crises including contamination, shortages and pressure to export water to the United States through pipelines and diversions.
Canada must recognize the right to water at the United Nations, reversing our country's shameful position on this crucial issue. Access to safe, clean drinking water is a fundamental right. The right to safe water is also an issue in Canada, particularly for First Nations communities.
Canada must stop promoting water privatization through public private partnerships. Your government's Building Canada plan pushes municipalities into P3s for water and sewage services, while delivering almost no new money to cash-strapped communities. P3s are bad public policy, an unwise use of tax dollars and lack accountability and transparency. Instead, cities and towns need increased federal funding to maintain and expand public water and wastewater systems.
Canada must ban bulk water exports and withdraw water from trade deals. Canada has a voluntary provincial ban on bulk exports, but any province could break it any time. In recent years, British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador have all considered exports, and trade deals such as NAFTA and the Security and Prosperity Partnership have put water back on the table.
Canada needs a national policy that protects Canadian water from commodification, diversion, bulk exports and privatization. This policy would outlaw bulk exports, set national drinking water standards and increase federal funding to maintain and expand water systems. A comprehensive policy will address pollution and scarcity, both of which threaten our water systems and supplies. Canadian drinking water standards should also be applied to bottled water.
Finally, Canada must live up to its international commitments to meet the Millennium Development Goals by increasing its aid to fight poverty and promote public services - not privatization. I call on your government to deliver a plan to raise Canada's aid to 0.7 per cent of our country's gross national income by 2015. Public services like water and sanitation are key to ending poverty in the global South, especially for women and girls.
http://www.canadians.org/water/index.html
