[All] Fw: Nestlé sells to Ice Rivers Springs - forced into strategic retreat

[Lanteigne]

Following up on the Nestle Exit with Wellington Water Watchers. Weboinair happening soon. 
Lulu 

Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android 
 
   ----- Forwarded message ----- From: "Wellington Water Watchers" <info at wellingtonwaterwatchers.ca> To: "Louisette Lanteigne" <water.lulu at yahoo.ca> Cc:  Sent: Fri., 3 Jul. 2020 at 8:00 a.m. Subject: Nestlé sells to Ice Rivers Springs - forced into strategic retreat   
NationBuilder#yiv9285408405 #yiv9285408405 body{background-color:#ffffff;}#yiv9285408405 body{color:#333333;font-family:Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Calibri, sans-serif;margin:0;padding:0;}#yiv9285408405 table{border-spacing:0;border-collapse:collapse;border-spacing:0;}#yiv9285408405 table td{border-collapse:collapse;}#yiv9285408405 p{margin-bottom:1em;}#yiv9285408405 img{max-width:100%;}#yiv9285408405 @media screen and (max-width:480px) {#yiv9285408405 div[class="yiv9285408405body-content"]img {width:100%;}}#yiv9285408405 @media screen and (max-width:600px) {#yiv9285408405 #yiv9285408405 table[class="yiv9285408405container"] {width:100%!important;}}
|  
| 
 

 



Nestlé announced in a pressrelease yesterday the sale of their operations in WellingtonCounty and Hope BC to Ice River.  The deal is “contingenton completion of the regulatory review process and the deal isexpected to close in Q3 2020”.

Josh Rubin in this articlein the Toronto Star clarifies that “Nestlé Pure Life water willcontinue to be sold in Canada, though it will be produced by Ice RiverSprings”.

 

So first the good news! 

This is a strategic retreat forced upon Nestlé by the sustainedpressure of you and all the people in Ontario who believe water is forlife, not profit.  Nestlé’s production in WellingtonCounty fell by 40%, partly in response to falling market demand.Nestlé’s official comment that this was a ‘business decision based ongrowth ambitions’ does not contradict the fact that their market sharedeclined.

We know it is your persistent opposition to Nestlé’s bottled waterand the boycott of their product that contributed to this result.

Sign up here for “All Eyes OnNestle - Is This Really Goodbye?” A webinar 7pm Monday July 13 todiscuss the implications of this decision and next steps in the Say NoTo Nestlé campaign

 

|   RSVP |


 

Nestlé wants to create the impression it is leavingOntario, but is it really saying goodbye?

Nestlé has used before the maneuver of selling the bottlingbusiness and keeping the brand in order to defuse public pressure. Itis significant that Nestlé appears to be licencing their Pure LifeBrand to Ice River Springs. (The details of the final agreement wouldreveal if Nestlé is taking an ownership position in Ice RiverSprings). In any event Nestlé still plans on making profit on water itextracts in Wellington County.

Franklin Frederick, (Brazilian writer and political activist) describeshere how Nestlé sold its Brazilian water brands to Braziliancompanies in order to distance itself from a successful internationalpressure campaign.

Nestlé has a very strategic and lucrative partnership with theSwiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SADC). This relationshipis vulnerable to pressure from international campaigns – generated byevents like the All Eyes On Nestlé event in Guelph in November 2019.This event brought together activists from Canada, Six Nations, US,Switzerland and Brazil. (A follow up international conference wasplanned for Switzerland on World Water Day in March of this year – andwas postponed by the spread of the coronavirus). This kind ofinternational grass roots pressure endangers Nestlé’s criticalrelationship with the Swiss government.

 

What have we won?

The defeat of a multi-national corporation is rarely achieved witha satisfying ‘bang’. More often it is with a ‘whimper’ like this –announcement of a ‘strategic re-focus’ or the quiet sell-off ofcontroversial assets. The last thing CEOs of multi-nationalcorporations want to do is admit that pressure from social movementsis forcing them to abandon profitable activities.

But make no mistake Nestlé’s decision to sell to Ice Riveris a direct consequence of sustained public opposition to theenvironmental damage caused by their water taking and plasticpollution. 

The many actions of individuals like you and the collective effortsof Wellington Water Watchers, Council of Canadians, EnvironmentalDefence, Six Nations of the Grand River, and many other organizationsdelivered this result.

You should feel proud of your contribution!  If thiswere a sport – then the final match has not been played. But you canbe sure this is a major victory – some might even say an upsetwin!

We are not done yet. Nestlé has not yet made the decision tocompletely leave Ontario.  But they have been shown thedoor – and we need to push them all the way out.

The root issue is that Ontario should not permit the extraction andsale of water for profit. When the Ontario government makes thatdecision, we will finally be rid of Nestlé’s water profiteering.

The final chapter of this story is not yet written. Public pressure forced the Liberal government to imposea moratorium on new permits to take water for bottling in 2016. Thiswas a significant disruption to Nestlé’s planned expansion. Nestlé’sannouncement today is a further retreat.

We must maintain our demand that the Ford government stop givingout permits to bottle water in Ontario. Together we can ensure wateris for life, not profit

 

Arlene Slocombe,

Executive Director

 

PS -  RSVPhere for the webinar “All Eyes On Nestle - Is This ReallyGoodbye?” 7pm Monday July 13.

 


Wellington Water Watchers
http://wellingtonwaterwatchers.nationbuilder.com/

 
 |
|  -=-=-
 Wellington Water Watchers · Canada 
This email was sent to water.lulu at yahoo.ca. To stop receivingemails, clickhere. 
You can also keep up with Wellington WaterWatchers on Twitteror Facebook. 
 -=-=-  |


Createdwith NationBuilder, software for leaders.
  |

  
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://gren.ca/pipermail/all_gren.ca/attachments/20200703/55db83d6/attachment.html>