The Montreal Economic Institute, a business-backed research group, recently released a report that concluded “Large-scale exports of fresh water would be a wealth-creating idea for Quebec and for Canada as a whole.”
It’s not a new idea. Industry and government have eyed water as a profitable commodity for years and have considered schemes such as diverting rivers and exporting bulk shipments of water from Canada to the United States.
It may be wealth-creating, but for whom? And is it a good idea?
The Council of Canadians argues that it isn’t, and we agree.
On its website (www.canadians.org/), the Council lists five reasons we shouldn’t consider selling our water:
1. Canada does not have a surplus of water. Contrary to popular belief, Canada holds 6.5 per cent of the world’s renewable water resources (as compared to the incorrect figure of 20 per cent being touted by corporate leaders). More than one quarter of municipalities have faced shortages in recent years, and only 1 per cent of water in the Great Lakes is renewable.
2.Once it’s gone, it’s gone. Water is a finite resource. Bulk water exports permanently remove water from the ecosystem at a time when climate change is already drying up traditional surface water sources like the Great Lakes.
3. Trade agreements could open the floodgates. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) defines water as a “service” and an “investment,” leaving Canadian water vulnerable to thirsty foreign investors. Once Canada allows water to be diverted outside our borders for large scale industrial purposes, foreign investors must be given the same “national treatment” as Canadian companies.
4. Canada has no ban on bulk exports. There is a voluntary provincial ban on bulk exports, but any province could break it any time, and would it not withstand a NAFTA challenge. In recent years, British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec and Newfoundland have all considered licensing schemes for bulk water exports.
5. The Security and Prosperity Partnership means water is on the table. The SPP was agreed to in 2005 by the leaders of Canada, the U.S. and Mexico with no debate by Parliament or the public. In March 2006, a major Washington-based think tank funded by the U.S. government launched the North American Future 2025 Project, “to help guide the ongoing Security and Prosperity Partnership,” according the Ottawa Citizen. Leaked documents obtained by the Council of Canadians indicate that bulk water exports have been a subject of discussion among corporate leaders and government officials at the Project’s behind-closed door meetings.
Here's an interesting and easy way to help out the David Suzuki Foundation. Go to www.myentrypoint.ca and fill in the blanks to make your own story about leaving something - calling that girl, giving up carbs, signing up for the Nature Challenge - for too late. When you tell your story, Criterion Investments will donate $10 on your behalf to the David Suzuki Foundation water and clean energy programs.
Of all the human-related threats to our planet, one has received surprisingly little attention given its magnitude. Perhaps it’s because few people see the massive islands of plastic swirling in the oceans.
CBC columnist Heather Mallick described one such island in the Pacific Ocean as “a hideous chyme stretching and pulsing in the sea like an underwater gob of spiky phlegm.”
In “Waves of disaster”, a feature article in this week’s Georgia Straight, Vancouver writer Roberta Staley provides more detail: “A briny Brobdingnagian mass of bobbing fishing line and nets, computers, bags, shampoo caps, toothbrushes, tires, bottles, diapers, tampon tubes, and plastic containers, the Garbage Patch is estimated to be at least 620,000 square kilometres—about 20 times the size of Vancouver Island—and 30 metres deep.”
The article attempts to get to the bottom of questions such as: “How did plastic come to rend the natural cycle of the ocean, the womb of Earth whence all life, from plants to insects to humans, sprang, perhaps four billion years ago? And what are the implications for humans as our oceans are churned into a soup of chemical and plastic?”
It’s a disturbing but important issue that needs to be understood by the public, as it’s something we’ve all played a role in creating, and a problem that we all have a stake in solving.
“Why don’t you guys pop your heads out from behind that tree” says the E! News producer. Sam pipes up and says something along the lines of, is that really going to get the message out? How will that help the owl? Aren’t we here to talk about protecting habitat?
Let’s just say that was music to my ears because it came from a rock star with conviction and an interest in staying on message!
Saturday July 26th, before opening the main stage at the Pemberton Music Festival, Sam Roberts came out with me (and about 10 others) in search of old growth Douglas Firs. Now, this wasn’t just any grove of trees. Last year it was home to one of BC’s last Spotted Owls, a female about 13 years old. And when I say last, I mean there are less than 10 in the wild, with four captured by the provincial government to be bred in captivity. Once upon a time B.C. was home to about 500 pairs.
Sam and the group (his manager, a friend, label representative, E! News producer, cameraman, interviewer, guide from the Western Canada Wilderness Committee, and First Nations hosts) definitely got a sense of what extinction sounds like, smells like and feels like. It seemed quite pathetic and sad to be standing in a forest, staring up at a tree that was once home to an endangered species. It’s that sinking feeling that motivates me to work tirelessly at profiling the stunning fact that BC is without an Endangered Species Law. Sign our petition to get a law at www.lastplaceonearth.ca
So the experience in nature, which everyone must have to remind us of what we’re fighting to protect, was greatly appreciated by Sam. He lamented that he rarely gets beyond the tour bus, parking lot and concert venue when he’s on the road. And although I never delivered on getting him his first bear sighting EVER, we did see a lot of bear scat on the bumpy, boulder ridden, at times cliff hugging logging road east of Pemberton. Next time!
We want to send you to the sold-out Radiohead concerts in Toronto (Aug. 15th) and Vancouver (Aug. 19th). All you have to do is tell us how Radiohead can be more eco-friendly on tour. We'll pick one lucky winner for each concert! Check out our MySpace page for more details and to enter the contest!
David Suzuki was recently in Europe with his daughter to see first-hand all the amazing progress being made with renewable energy. Here’s an update that he sent to us we’d like to share:
We have had a great time with Preben Maegaard, the father of renewable energy in Denmark. The thing that is inspiring is how they are thinking of connecting bits of renewable - power and heat generation, biogas, wind, solar and wave - to the grid. We absolutely loved Copenhagen. If Vancouverites think Vancouver is the best city in the world, well, think again. We spent an entire day cycling, of course, it's flat but the bikes are so great. We see punk kids with pink hairdos, tattoos and chains riding alongside grandparents, business people and women in fancy dresses and high heels. Bicycles rule and the city is closing off entire main streets to cars so bikes can have the whole road. Lots of cargo bikes with three wheels with two at the back or front so they can carry children, groceries or more.
Berlin was a very different experience. [Parliamentarian] Hermann Scheer is a great man and my new hero. He is so popular, he doesn't care what his party says, he just stays true to his commitment to renewables and he's had a huge impact.
What is interesting is that what we´ve seen - bicycles in Copenhagen, biogas, cradle to cradle manufacturing, biodynamic wine making, fast trains - didn´t come about because of environmental concerns. They had to do with economics, energy self sufficiency and quality of life. It is crystal clear to me that the ONLY truly sustainable energy for the future is renewables and that is scientifically irrefutable. The only real impediment to moving to that future is mindset, not technology or economics.
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David Suzuki was recently in Europe with his daughter to see first-hand all the amazing progress being made with renewable energy. Here’s an update that he sent to us we’d like to share: