The Canadian government needs a better strategy to protect the country's fresh water in the face of growing U.S. demand, says a report released Thursday by an Ottawa-based think tank.
The Polaris Institute report, called "Turning on Canada's Tap," says the Conservative government has shown little movement on developing an official policy on water exports, even though Prime Minister Stephen Harper promised one in the throne speech of 2007.
The report will be presented on Parliament Hill on Thursday morning. It was written by the think tank's director, Tony Clarke.
"(Canada doesn't) have much at all in place," he told CTV's Canada AM on Thursday. "We don't have legislation dealing with bulk water exports. What's required is federal legislation; a federal ban."
The existing legislation, which Clarke doesn't see as effective, is called the International Boundary Waters Treaty Act. It prohibits bulk removal of water from the Canadian portion of boundary waters. There is also a water export accord between Canada and the provinces in which the provinces promise not to sell water from the country's interior to foreign buyers.
The Polaris document warns of a future where American companies will supersede domestic demand for Canada's water. Water is included within the scope of the North American Free Trade Agreement so if Canada starts exporting water, it will be forced to make continue doing so, says the report.
According to Environment Canada, the country contains about seven per cent of the world's fresh water resources.
With the United States' southern cities seeing increasingly depleted reservoirs, many will soon begin looking north, writes Clarke. The report states that "24 per cent of America's medium sized cities and 17.3 per cent of its large cities are expected to face serious water shortages by 2015."
Ohio's Lt.-Gov. Lee Fisher recently mused his state may eventually sell Lake Erie water to drought-stricken states, despite a compact between eight Great Lakes states and two Canadian provinces prohibiting it. He soon retracted the statement, but not without worrying environmentalists about the implications of his suggestion.
The Quebec Liberal party has also spoken in favour of bulk water exports, Clarke said.
He says U.S. President George Bush and former U.S. Ambassador to Canada Paul Cellucci have both requested publicly that Canada begin making bulk water exports to the Unites States.
"It is not at all clear that either Ottawa or the provinces are in a position to deal with a challenge coming from Washington to turn on the taps," writes Clarke. "Simply put, there is a serious deficiency in terms of Canadian water policy and governance."
In a press release issued in April 2007, Environment Minister John Baird said the government has no intention of negotiating bulk water exports.
"Canada has restrictions in place to prohibit bulk removal of water, including diversion, backed by serious fines and/or imprisonment," the release stated. "Canada is committed to protecting water in its natural state and to preserving the integrity of ecosystems, and will continue to do so."
Calls to the Ministry of the Environment on Thursday were not immediately returned.
The Polaris report recommends the government:
- Rebuild Canada's water protection capacities
- Establish a federal ban on bulk water exports
- Remove water protection restrictions in trade regimes
- Utilize bi-national water treaty mechanisms
- Implement bold water conservation measures
The Polaris Institute publishes books and reports on water preservation and other issues surrounding Canada's policy on natural resources.
Clarke has written numerous books including "Blue Gold: The Battle Against the Corporate Theft of the World's Water," on which he collaborated with Council of Canadians National Chairperson Maude Barlow.
Water as a human right
Meanwhile, human rights advocates including Barlow are pointing the finger at Canada for derailing United Nations efforts to list water as a basic human right.
The Toronto Star reported Thursday that the UN Human Rights Council ended a three week session without passing the resolution, which was backed by Germany and Spain.
Ashfaq Khalfan of the United Kingdom-based Right to Water Program told The Star he believes the resolution would have passed if it wasn't for the Canadian delegation's resolute lobbying efforts.
Barlow of the Council of Canadian said Canada "derailed" the process with support from the United States, which doesn't have a seat on the Human Rights Council.
With files from The Canadian Press
