Council warns Premiers not to compromise economic, water policy in Canada-EU free trade talks
As provincial Premiers gathered in Winnipeg, Manitoba for their annual Council of the Federation meeting, the Council of Canadians was there to warn about the potential loss of control of our water resources and public services if the proposed Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) goes forward.
CETA is a wide ranging deal that would put pressure on our provincial and territorial governments to open up public services for water, transportation, child care and public health care to private European companies. Under the agreement, Canadian corporations are looking for better access to the European market without having to meet stricter EU rules. European negotiators want to give corporations Canadian service contracts, which would transfer the $100 to $200 billion our local governments spend annually on goods and services into corporate profits. The EU wants public hydro, public water and most major cities banned from applying local preferences or other forms of social, ethical or sustainable criteria to public tendering.
CETA could have a major impact on access to public water service and infrastructure as Europe is home to the largest water corporations in the world, which have their sights set on privatizing Canada’s public utilities.
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“There is every chance a private water company would invoke new legal trade protections in cases where a city council decided to keep a water utility public on the grounds it would be more accountable, cheaper to run, or simply more democratic,” said Stuart Trew, the Council of Canadians trade campaigner in a media release in advance of the Premiers’ meeting. “Even conservation strategies have come under attack in Europe by the large private water companies. If the Council of the Federation is truly concerned about protecting water, they shouldn’t be helping EU water companies dismantle protections in Canada.”
The Council of Canadians joined with more than 30 other organizations calling for transparency of CETA negotiations in a letter sent to Premiers in advance of the meeting. A copy of that letter is available in French and English on the Trade Justice Network website at www.tradejustice.ca. The Council of Canadians is calling for an end to the CETA negotiations, which are set to enter into the fifth round at meetings in Ottawa, Ontario this October.
While the Premiers met, our Winnipeg Chapter and the Climate Action Network co-organized an event called “Unsustainable Compromises: The trade threats to provincial leadership on climate change.” Presentations at the event explained how this trade deal will restrict provinces’ and territories’ abilities to build and promote green energy industries or to introduce stricter environmental protections than currently exist. There are also reports that CETA could include a proportionality clause as exists in NAFTA, which binds Canada to a constant level of oil and gas exports to the United States no matter the circumstances.
For more information about the Council’s work to expose why the proposed deal is bad for Canada go here.
Here’s more about what’s new at the Council of Canadians:
Registration now open – Mark your calendars for the Council’s Annual General Meeting October 22-24 in Ottawa, Ontario
 Council of Canadians members, chapter activists, staff and supporters will gather in Ottawa October 22-24 to proudly celebrate our 25 year history of speaking out against unfair trade deals and social injustices and bringing people together for political action by Building People Power at our Annual General Meeting.
Our keynote speakers will address the potentially devastating effects of Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), and speak to a different – and better – future that values people over profits.
On Friday, October 22 we will fill the streets with a public rally against CETA as trade negotiators and government representatives meet in Ottawa behind closed doors for the fifth round of secret talks to work out details of the agreement.
That evening we will host a free public forum where Council of Canadians National Chairperson Maude Barlow will speak about CETA’s push to open up Canada’s public water systems to the European Union’s private water corporations. Speakers will also talk about the agreement’s threats to municipal decisions including green energy programs and “Buy Canadian” policies.
We hope you will join us!
For more information about this year’s AGM, and to register go here.
Pressure mounts on Canadian government to fix water woes as UN approves resolution to declare a human right to water and sanitation
 Canada is now facing increasing pressure to address water access concerns here in Canada, particularly in First Nations communities where clean, safe water is often not available.
On July 28, 2010, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution declaring the human right to “safe and clean drinking water and sanitation.” The resolution, presented by the Bolivian government, had 122 countries vote in its favour, while 41 countries – including Canada – abstained.
The resolution “Calls upon States and international organizations to provide financial resources, capacity-building and technology transfer, through international assistance and co-operation, in particular to developing countries, in order to scale up efforts to provide safe, clean, accessible and affordable drinking water and sanitation for all.”
“It is crucial now that communities in Canada use this opportunity to hold our government accountable to the international commitment to recognize water and sanitation as human rights,” said Meera Karunananthan, the Council of Canadians’ National Water Campaigner. “We must demand legislation at home to ensure that these rights are enjoyed by all peoples of Canada without discrimination. It is time for Canada to do something about the deplorable condition on First Nations reserves that have lacked access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation for generations.”
There are presently boil-water advisories on more than 90 First Nations reserves. Some have been living with advisories in place for years.
For more than a decade the water justice movement, including the Council of Canadians' Blue Planet Project, has been calling for UN leadership on the right to water. Right now nearly 2 billion people live in water-stressed areas of the world and 3 billion have no running water within a kilometre of their homes. Every eight seconds, a child dies of water-borne disease – deaths that would be easily preventable with access to clean, safe water.
To read more about the Council of Canadians’ work in the important victory to have water declared a human right go here.
For more information about the Council’s Blue Planet Project visit www.blueplanetproject.net.
Council promotes climate justice at local festival
 Climate justice hit all the right notes at the Blue Skies Music Festival near Clarendon, Ontario earlier this month.
Campaigns and Communications Director Brent Patterson and environmental activist Mario Vella hosted a workshop for festival attendees about the world’s growing climate crisis. The workshop focused on recent studies that show the climate change-related warming of Lake Superior and the dropping water levels in Lake Huron and Lake Michigan, as well as the shrinking of glaciers in Canada (which help to feed our aquifers) as climate change indicators. Rising temperatures, dropping snow levels, and the climate damage caused by the massive and expanding tar sands in Alberta are also cause for concern.
Workshop discussions centred on the World Peoples Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth, which took place this past April in Bolivia. The conference built a groundswell of support among thousands for immediate actions to address the climate crisis.
The Council of Canadians continues its work for climate justice and is preparing to attend COP16, the Conference of the Parties under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which will be held in Cancun, Mexico this November.
For more information about our climate justice campaign go here.
PHOTO: Toronto environmentalist Mario Vella and Council of Canadians' Director of Campaigns and Communications Brent Patterson at the Blue Skies Music Festival
Win! Water diversion plan defeated
A water diversion plan in Millbrook, Ontario was given thumbs down by the local township council after many concerned residents spoke out against the plan to have a 12 kilometre pipeline move water to service a casino expansion, entertainment complex, hundreds of new houses, a golf course, hotel, big box stores, industrial enterprises and more.
The Council of Canadians supported the community efforts against this water diversion by participating in meetings and events. The local Peterborough-Kawarthas chapter also joined the community’s “It’s About Water” human chain as part of World Water events this year.
Community organizers in the fight against the water diversion plan gave special thanks to the many individuals and groups involved in the campaign and included “special recognition” to “Council of Canadians: Catherine Kaye, Board and chapter member Roy Brady and Ontario-Québec Regional Organizer Mark Calzavara. The letter acknowleged “all of the support, meetings, inclusion in Council of Canadians newsletters and agendas right up to the letter of support from Maude Barlow.”
To read more about this win, go here.
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