The Council replies: Letters to the editor
Concerned about Liberals' statements on water, says Barlow

Maude Barlow
The Hill Times (Ottawa)
April 14, 2008

The Council of Canadians and our allies are concerned about recent statements made by the Liberal Party to media in response to Canada's role in removing references to water and sanitation as a human right in a resolution tabled by Germany and Spain at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva.

Both the Liberal Party's water critic, Liberal MP Francis Scarpaleggia, and the party's environment critic, Liberal MP David McGuinty command told the media that endorsing the right to water could force the Canadian government to export water to the United States.

This statement is utterly untrue. Recognition of the right to water in no way affects a country's sovereign right to manage its own water resources. The resolution tabled at the Human Rights Council specifically stated that it focused on the local and national level, and emphasized the need to leave aside any transboundary water issues.

We are pleased that the Liberal Party now acknowledges that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) makes Canada vulnerable to bulk water exports. NAFTA defines water as a "tradable good" which means that if any province were to allow the commercial export of water, it would be very difficult to turn off the flow. It also considers water an "investment, giving American water corporations the right to sue the Canadian government for damages if it ever changed the rules and tried to assert control over Canada's water that is being used by American companies. Our organizations believe that water must be removed from NAFTA and would favour any policy aimed at doing so.

Strengthening the recognition of water as a human right would challenge rather than reinforce a corporate claim over water. The Canadian government should assert that water is a human right that has to be managed for current and future generations of Canadians. By doing so, it would be in a stronger position to challenge the threats to Canada's water posed by NAFTA.

Canada may be opposing the right to water and sanitation simply out of misguided caution, but the cost will be borne by the one billion people who do not have access to clean water and more than 2.6 billion people who do not have access to a toilet.

We call on the Liberal Party and the Conservative government to reverse their position on the right to water and sanitation in order to effectively address the water crisis in Canada and around the world.

Maude Barlow , Chairperson of the Council of Canadians, The Council of Canadians