[All] Bill to Ban Bulk Water Exports in Canada.

[Louisette Lanteigne]

Press Release: Francis Scarpaleggia’s bill to ban bulk water exports set for debate in the House of Commons
Posted on 22. Nov, 2011 in Releases 
Ottawa, November 22, 2011 – On November 23, the House of Commons will debate Bill C-267, the Canada Water Preservation Act, a private member’s bill sponsored by Francis Scarpaleggia, Liberal Critic for Water Policy and Chair of the National Liberal Caucus. The bill aims to protect Canada’s aquatic ecosystems from the negative impacts of inter-basin water transfers. The bill would also de facto prohibit large-scale transfers of water to areas outside the country—i.e. bulk water exports—at a time when Canada and the world enter a period of declining water supplies owing to the effects of climate change.
“Canadians are resolutely against the idea of exporting our water, whether through diversions of waterways, pipeline, tanker ship, water bag, or using any other bulk transfer method,” said the Lac-Saint-Louis M.P. Scarpaleggia added that “the nature and complexities of the Canadian federal system combined with the rules of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) have created uncertainty around Canada’s ability to safeguard its freshwater sovereignty.”
The bill, based on the work of some of Canada’s foremost water policy experts at the Program on Water Issues at the University of Toronto’s Munk Centre for International Studies, would ban bulk removals (defined as more than 50,000 litres per day) of water from one aquatic basin in Canada to another, thereby protecting the environment from the effects of large-scale water transfers, including from the threat of the spread of invasive species that could accompany such transfers.
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For more information, please contact Laura Gareau, Special Assistant to Francis Scarpaleggia, at 613-995-8281 or francis.scarpaleggia.a3 at parl.gc.ca.
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