There was only one promise left to break, and now the deed is done. Indeed, during his electoral campaign, Jean Charest promised that his party wouldn't touch the moratory on water exports, decreed in 1999. Now we are learning that Thomas Mulcair, the current minister for water in Quebec, is planning to break open this moratory by January 2005, and hence allow the bulk exportation of water. He is aiming to raise the issue at the public forums being held right this moment in 19 regions of Quebec. The exported water would doubtless go to the United States, which have been eyeing our water reserves for some time, while busily wasting their own!

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(translated from French-language version by simms)

 
IMPORTANT: PLEASE CIRCULATE. THANK YOU.

There was only one promise left to break, and now the deed is done. Indeed, during his electoral campaign, Jean Charest promised that his party wouldn't touch the moratory on water exports, decreed in 1999. Now we are learning that Thomas Mulcair, the current minister for water in Quebec, is planning to break open this moratory by January 2005, and hence allow the bulk exportation of water. He is aiming to raise the issue at the public forums being held right this moment in 19 regions of Quebec. The exported water would doubtless go to the United States, which have been eyeing our water reserves for some time, while busily wasting their own!

If we start to export our water in bulk, it would change its status from common good to commercial merchandise, just like petroleum or natural gas. According to the Coalition pour une gestion responsable de l'eau (Eau secours), by becoming a merchandise, water would fall under Article 11 of the North American Free Trade Accord (NAFTA), an article stipulating that all signatory governments that put up barriers to trade (for example, by limiting the exploitation of a natural resource) expose themselves to lawsuits.

And this would not be a first for Canada! In 2001, Sun Belt Water, an American company, invoked NAFTA's Article 11 to sue Canada for 10 billion US dollars for its refusal to export British Columbia's water in bulk. Once a natural resource falls into NAFTA's grip, it's no longer possible to make a U-turn -- the move is irreversible.

Mulcair claims that the bulk exportation of water means simply to export it in trucks, which is the current method used for bottling purposes. However, this is not the case in the eyes of business. Right now, water does not fall under NAFTA's Article 11. This is perhaps due to the small quantities of water being drawn, or maybe because the companies which pump water do not have to pay for it, simply because we are "giving" them our water, in a more-or-less voluntary way, and a gift is not a purchase. Perhaps all that is needed for water to become a merchandise is for them to pay for it; this would be catastrophic for the environment, even if the only alternative seems to be watching them pillage our resources.

Mulcair is also counting on the use of the regional development map and the struggle against the exodus of youth [from the regions] to achieve his goals. He will not hesitate to bait the regions with the potential profits they could supposedly obtain by exporting their water resources. He will doubtless keep quiet about the fact that the level of our waterways has been lowered because of climatic changes -- this according to participants of the 57th annual CWRA (Canadian Water Resources Association) conference being held in Montreal right now (June 16-18).

We don't have time to wait for the next elections. It will be too late, then, to reverse the process. We must pressure public opinion and the media, and demand that the Charest government maintain the moratorium on water exports. Water is not a vulgar merchandise that we can 'choose' to consume! It is a resource essential to life, one that cannot be replaced by anything! Life has no price!

Stéphanie LeBlanc

(translated from French-language version by simms)

Some links:

Mulcair rouvre la porte aux exportations d'eau (Le Devoir, June 15th, 2004 - in French)
http://ledevoir.com/2004/06/15/57014.html

Official Report * 1735 * 051 (a debate in the House)
http://www.parl.gc.ca/37/1/parlbus/chambus/house/debates/051_2001-04-30/han051_1735-e.htm

"L'ALÉNA menace l'approvisionnement du Canada en énergie !" Aut'Journal, March 2003 - in French:
http://www.lautjournal.info/autjourarchives.asp?article=1353&noj=217

Themed files on water (Eau Secours - in French):
http://www.eausecours.org/entree_grand_public/gp_dossiers/politique_nationale_eau/nauseabond.htm

Blue Gold, by Maude Barlow & Tony Clarke (a must-read):
http://www.earthscan.co.uk/asp/bookdetails.asp?key=3799