Dear activists,

October 5, 2006

In Blue Gold: The Battle Against Corporate Theft of the World's Water, Maude Barlow and Tony Clarke write, "All three British water companies (Severn Trent, Anglian Water, and the Kelda Group) took root after Britain's water system was privatized under Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s."

This week we've had media reports (see Globe and Mail October 3, 2006) that, "The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board teamed up with a consortium in a friendly $4.1-billion (U.S.) offer yesterday to buy AWG PLC, one of Britain's largest water companies. The fund's $1.05-billion (Canadian) share of the bid would mark its first big water investment and its largest infrastructure wager so far." AWG PLC is the parent company of Anglian Water.

The intention of the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board, along with three other global investors, to purchase AWG PLC should be opposed by Canadians. All Canadian workers residing outside of Quebec contribute 4.95% of their earnings to the Canada Pension Plan. Some 16 million of us contribute to or benefit from the CPP. We should all have a voice in this matter.

Our government has already rejected the fundamental right to water in a vote at the United Nations. The CPP's plan to purchase one of the world's largest private water companies with our pension funds compounds an already poor Canadian record. This is clearly not what Canadians want.

As reported by Public Citizen's Water for All program in a March 2003 report, "In what was arguably the most massive privatization deal in recent history, in 1988 the Thatcher government transformed its 10 regional water authorities into private profit-making ventures."

Public Citizen reports that, "On average, prices rose by over 50% in the first 4 years...The real value of the fees, salaries and bonuses paid to the director's increased between 50% and 200% in most water companies...The profits of the 10 water companies rose 147% between 1990 and 1997...The disconnection rate tripled in the first five years, with 18,636 households disconnected in 1994...(And) in 1998, the major water companies in the UK were ranked as the second, third and fourth-worst polluters..." In 2005, water companies were ranked as the worst polluters in the United Kingdom.

On page 125 of Blue Gold, Maude writes, "Between 1989 and 1997, Anglian, Northumbrian, Severn Trent, Wessex, and Yorkshire Water were successfully prosecuted 128 times for violations ranging from water leakages to illegal sewage disposals."

The British newspaper The Daily Mail stated in July 1994 that, "...The water industry has become the biggest rip-off in Britain. Water bills, both to households and industry, have soared. And the directors and shareholders of Britain's top ten water companies have been able to use their position as monopoly suppliers to pull off the greatest act of licensed robbery in our history."

The chair of the CPPIB's Investment Committee is Gail Cook-Bennett. According to the CPPIB website, she has held, "previous academic positions at University of Toronto and senior executive positions at Bennecon Ltd. and C.D. Howe Institute, Montreal. Director of Manulife Financial Corporation, Petro-Canada and Emera Inc."

You are encouraged to e-mail Ms. Cook-Bennett and state that the CPP should not be investing in private water corporations that seek profit over the fundamental right to water. Ms. Cook-Bennett's e-mail address is not available, but you may send your concerns to the CPPIB's manager of communications John Cappelletti at jcappelletti@cppib.ca.

In that the federal finance minister serves as a steward of the Canada Pension Plan, e-mails to Ms. Cook-Bennett should also be cc'd to Finance Minister Jim Flaherty at jflaherty@fin.gc.ca.