(OTTAWA) The Council of Canadians expressed deep disappointment that in its final report on water exports, the International Joint Commission squandered an historic opportunity to speak for the citizens of Canada and the United States.

"The IJC has joined the company of Brian Mulroney, John Crosbie and federal Environment Minister David Anderson in trying to convince Canadians that trade agreements don't threaten Canada's water sovereignty," said Jamie Dunn, Water Campaigner for the Council of Canadians. "Since 1988, Canadians have heard an ever-changing story about water and trade deals. Not only has the IJC now joined the federal government in clouding the issue, it has proposed that exporting water can be okay despite clear statements from the public rejecting bulk water exports for profit. What we predicted would happen to water under free trade in 1988 is slowly happening."

"Canada's record in defending Canadian policies and laws from trade challenges is pretty dismal," said Steven Shrybman, Executive Director of West Coast Environmental Law Association, and the author of the only Canadian legal opinion on the impact of trade agreements on bulk water exports. "In recent months, we've seen adverse trade rulings concerning the Auto Pact, split-run magazines, supply management and, most recently, drug patent laws. The assurances that the federal government is now giving around water should remind Canadians of the assurances this same government has made about all of these earlier cases."

The Council of Canadians commissioned Shrybman's legal opinion detailing the trade threats arising from bulk water exports last year. The Council has been campaigning for an outright ban on bulk water exports.

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