I have a friend who is preparing a master's thesis on Canadian bulk water export policy, and thanks to my reading of that paper, I feel that I have some basic knowledge of the prospect of bulk water export.
When I read articles such as this, I am alarmed to say the least. The federal government has argued that bulk water is not at risk of being exported because it has not been treated as a commodity in the past. This is a pretty weak argument when we consider the growing demand to access supplies of fresh water, something that Canada has in great amount. Just because Canada has not approached water as a commodity good does not mean that it is not at risk: frankly I think this is rather naive...
I don't oppose water transfers when need can be demonstrated...for example, say there was some sort of water shortage that left a region at risk, I would argue that it may be appropriate to transfer water on a humanitarian basis. What I oppose is the commodification of water as a product for export. I think this is an issue that people need to be more aware of and concerned about. Something as fundamentally important as access to fresh water should not be something decided at high level, closed to the public, government meetings, especially meetings that include corporate representation....lets make some noise about this!!
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