<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" ><tr><td valign="top" style="font: inherit;"><DIV>Hi folks</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Just got this from the office of Bob Ray. In my view Canada should have voted on this one.</DIV>
<DIV><BR>Lulu<BR><BR>--- On <B>Thu, 8/5/10, Rae.B@parl.gc.ca <I><Rae.B@parl.gc.ca></I></B> wrote:<BR></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE style="BORDER-LEFT: rgb(16,16,255) 2px solid; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px"><BR>From: Rae.B@parl.gc.ca <Rae.B@parl.gc.ca><BR>Subject: Regarding the UN Right to Water Resolution<BR>To: butterflybluelu@rogers.com<BR>Date: Thursday, August 5, 2010, 12:45 PM<BR><BR>
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<P class=yiv1324405652MsoPlainText><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Thank you for having taken the time to write our office in support of recognizing the human right to water.<SPAN> </SPAN>Mr. Rae very much appreciates hearing your views on this vital issue.</SPAN></DIV>
<P class=yiv1324405652MsoPlainText><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"> </SPAN></DIV>
<P class=yiv1324405652MsoPlainText><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Water is one of the Liberal Caucus’ key policy priorities.<SPAN> </SPAN>In 2005, Francis Scarpaleggia, Liberal Member of Parliament for Lac-Saint-Louis, founded the National Liberal Water Caucus as a vehicle for Liberal MPs and Senators to give policy focus to water.<SPAN> </SPAN>Maude Barlow of the Council of Canadians has in fact been a guest speaker at the caucus where she addressed the issue of the human right to water.<SPAN> </SPAN>Moreover, in 2007, Mr. Scarpaleggia, through a motion he tabled in the House of Commons, called on the Conservative government to create a national water strategy, something the government has failed to do.<SPAN> </SPAN>Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff, however, has said that a Liberal government will create and implement a national water strategy. </SPAN></DIV>
<P class=yiv1324405652MsoPlainText><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"> </SPAN></DIV>
<P class=yiv1324405652MsoPlainText><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">The non-binding resolution adopted by the United Nations General Assembly is a crucial step toward the goal of establishing a human right to water that can, hopefully, result in all people around the world having access to the water they require for survival and dignified living.<SPAN> </SPAN>Canada voting for the resolution would not have amounted to more than a symbolic gesture at this point in the journey, but it would have sent a clear signal to Canadians and the world that Canada wants to be a leader in making universal access to water for human consumption and sanitation a reality and that helping developing countries access water for their people is a Canadian foreign policy priority.<SPAN> </SPAN></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=yiv1324405652MsoPlainText><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"> </SPAN></DIV>
<P class=yiv1324405652MsoPlainText><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Although it is not possible to know what really motivated Canada’s abstention at the United Nations, one reason being officially offered is that we did not wish to short-circuit the process launched by the U.N. Human Rights Council’s (HRC) when it named an independent expert for safe drinking water and sanitation, <SPAN class=yiv1324405652SpellE>Catarina</SPAN> de <SPAN class=yiv1324405652SpellE>Albaquerque</SPAN>.<SPAN> </SPAN>Ms. de <SPAN class=yiv1324405652SpellE>Albaquerque’s</SPAN> mandate is to ascertain the situation in various parts of the world with respect to current access to water and determine the need for, and eventual shape of, a distinct legally-binding international human right to water.</SPAN></DIV>
<P class=yiv1324405652MsoPlainText><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"> </SPAN></DIV>
<P class=yiv1324405652MsoPlainText><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">The Liberal Caucus believes the U.N. resolution complements rather than detracts from the work of the HRC independent expert.<SPAN> </SPAN>In fact, the U.N. resolution itself references the HRC process.<SPAN> </SPAN></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=yiv1324405652MsoPlainText><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"> </SPAN></DIV>
<P class=yiv1324405652MsoPlainText><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">The Liberal Caucus wholeheartedly supports Ms. de <SPAN class=yiv1324405652SpellE>Albaquerque’s</SPAN> work, which is crucial to defining a practical and effective international human right to water.<SPAN> </SPAN>We see no contradiction between the two initiatives—i.e. the HRC process and the General Assembly vote.<SPAN> </SPAN>Many of the countries that voted for the right-to-water resolution openly subscribe to the HRC process. France, Costa Rica, Egypt, Singapore, and the Russian Federation, for example, all stated their belief that the adoption of the resolution gives further impetus to the HRC process. </SPAN></DIV>
<P class=yiv1324405652MsoPlainText><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"> </SPAN></DIV>
<P class=yiv1324405652MsoPlainText><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Thus, voting for the resolution would not have undermined Canada’s respect for Ms. de <SPAN class=yiv1324405652SpellE>Albaquerque’s</SPAN> ongoing work.<SPAN> </SPAN>Nor would it have precluded the government from launching a process within Canada to explore the implications of a human right to water for a federal state like ours where water is owned by the provinces.<SPAN> </SPAN>(Despite provincial ownership of the resource, Ottawa has major constitutional responsibility for aspects of water management).<SPAN> </SPAN></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=yiv1324405652MsoPlainText><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"> </SPAN></DIV>
<P class=yiv1324405652MsoPlainText><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">The Liberal Caucus believes the federal government should launch consultations with the provinces, legal and academic experts, and Canadians at large to develop a roadmap for achieving a legally-binding international human right to water—one that is not merely symbolic but that can achieve practical results.<SPAN> </SPAN></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=yiv1324405652MsoPlainText><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"> </SPAN></DIV>
<P class=yiv1324405652MsoPlainText><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">The second reason given for the government’s abstention is that the resolution did not define the scope of the right to water.<SPAN> </SPAN>But as noted, the resolution is not legally binding.<SPAN> </SPAN>This provides countries like Canada latitude in dealing with any interpretations of this right with which they might not strictly agree and gives Canadians the final say in how our country can best support the implementation of the resolution.</SPAN></DIV>
<P class=yiv1324405652MsoPlainText><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"> </SPAN></DIV>
<P class=yiv1324405652MsoPlainText><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">The Liberal Caucus holds steadfast to Canada’s water sovereignty; more so in the face of growing calls from conservative-minded bodies like the right-wing Montreal Economic Institute for Canada to export our freshwater.<SPAN> </SPAN>This is precisely why Francis Scarpaleggia, working with the Program on Water Issues at the University of Toronto’s <SPAN class=yiv1324405652SpellE>Munk</SPAN> Centre, has tabled legislation to close the door to bulk-water exports.<SPAN> </SPAN></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=yiv1324405652MsoPlainText><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"> </SPAN></DIV>
<P class=yiv1324405652MsoPlainText><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Mr. <SPAN class=yiv1324405652SpellE>Scarpaleggia’s</SPAN> bill follows on earlier steps by the Chrétien government to ban the export of water from the Great Lakes, freshwater bodies under joint federal-provincial jurisdiction.<SPAN> </SPAN>Although most provinces currently do have prohibitions against the export of water in bulk from their jurisdictions, these prohibitions can be lifted at any time as the political and economic context in those jurisdictions evolve.<SPAN> </SPAN>(In Quebec, for example, the association of medical specialists supports bulk-water exports as a means to finance healthcare).<SPAN> </SPAN>Federal “backstop” legislation is thus needed to ensure that provincial bans on bulk-water exports remain permanent and effective.<SPAN> </SPAN></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=yiv1324405652MsoPlainText><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"> </SPAN></DIV>
<P class=yiv1324405652MsoPlainText><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">While it is unlikely that recognizing the human right to water in international law would compromise Canada’s ability to protect its water from the threat of export, it is a fact that proponents of water-export schemes have—speciously—invoked our moral duty to help those in need in other countries as justification for their proposals.<SPAN> </SPAN>We in the Liberal Caucus believe this is another reason why we must have a full public debate in Canada on the human right to water.<SPAN> </SPAN>A by-product of that debate would be to divorce the two issues in the public mind, so that the human right to water can never be credibly used as a pretext for generating support for bulk-water exports.</SPAN></DIV>
<P class=yiv1324405652MsoPlainText><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"> </SPAN></DIV>
<P class=yiv1324405652MsoPlainText><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">In conclusion, the Conservative government’s coy abstention before an international audience on an issue—water—so deeply tied to our national identity raises obvious suspicion.<SPAN> </SPAN>It prompts Canadians to ask whether their government sees water as a public good—an inalienable life-giving resource—or rather as a commodity whose value and distribution is determined by the marketplace.</SPAN></DIV>
<P class=yiv1324405652MsoPlainText><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"> </SPAN></DIV>
<P class=yiv1324405652MsoPlainText><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Thank you again for writing to Mr. Rae on the human right to water.<SPAN> </SPAN>It is his hope that this response has been useful in communicating the Liberal Party's commitment to water issues in general and, more specifically, to water for all. </SPAN></DIV>
<P class=yiv1324405652MsoPlainText><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"> </SPAN></DIV>
<P class=yiv1324405652MsoPlainText><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Sincerely,</SPAN></DIV>
<P class=yiv1324405652MsoNormal> </DIV>
<P class=yiv1324405652MsoNormal><A name=_MailAutoSig rel=nofollow><B><SPAN>Susan Humphrey</SPAN></B></A><SPAN><I><SPAN></SPAN></I></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=yiv1324405652MsoNormal><SPAN><I><SPAN>Parliamentary Assistant</SPAN></I></SPAN><SPAN><SPAN></SPAN></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=yiv1324405652MsoNormal><SPAN><SPAN>Office of the Hon. Bob Rae, MP for Toronto Centre</SPAN></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=yiv1324405652MsoNormal><SPAN><SPAN>(613) 992-5234</SPAN></SPAN></DIV><SPAN></SPAN>
<P class=yiv1324405652MsoNormal> </DIV></DIV></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></td></tr></table>