The Kitchener-Waterloo chapter collecting signatures for the Boycott Nestle Pledge at the farmers market last weekend.
The Council of Canadians Kitchener-Waterloo chapter had a letter to the editor published in The Waterloo Region Record challenging an opinion piece by Maclean’s magazine editor-at-large Peter Shawn Taylor.
Taylor had taken aim at our Boycott Nestle Pledge and argued, “In 2005, Nestle’s chair, Peter Brabeck, earned the enmity of water crusaders by stating the obvious: ‘Water is a foodstuff like any other, and like any other foodstuff it should have a market value.’ If you truly believe water is precious, then it makes sense to put a price on it. And if we are fortunate enough to have lots of it, it will be cheap — which is a great advantage to all.”
Chapter activists David Lubell and Ronald Ward responded in their letter to the editor, “Peter Shawn Taylor makes many bold statements of opinion that are debatable at best but a few statements he makes are simply not supported by the facts. First, it is not ‘irrational mysticism’ to declare water as a human right. Decades of agreements culminated in 2010, when the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution recognizing the human rights to water and sanitation as ‘essential for the full enjoyment of the right to life’. Canada is required to adhere to the resolution.”
They also note, “Second, it is a fair and reasonable application of the law to expropriate the well Nestle recently bought in Elora (despite the local municipality’s attempt to purchase it to safeguard their municipal water supply). Nestle will be reimbursed and the community will have the secure access to drinking water it needs. Last, Mr. Taylor’s faith in the ability of unfettered capitalism to provided cheap and abundant water is unfounded. The history of spectacular price increases following the privatization of municipal water systems around the world proves the necessity for treating water as a human right instead of a commodity.”
This morning, the Canadian Press reported, “Ontario will formally impose a two-year moratorium on new or expanded bottled water companies as of Jan. 1, 2017 after thousands of people expressed support for the ban. Most of the more than 20,000 people who responded during a 45-day period for comments supported the province’s proposed moratorium on issuing water taking permits for new or increased bottled water operations. The government will use the submissions to help develop a new regulation imposing the moratorium that will take effect in the new year and last until 2019, said Environment and Climate Change Minister Glen Murray.”
The Council of Canadians launched an online action alert at the start of the 45-day comment period and generated 9,219 comments to the Environmental Bill of Rights Registry on this issue.
Our core demands to the provincial government are to:
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Expropriate the Middlebrook well that was recently purchased by Nestle and give it to the municipality of Centre Wellington who need it for their drinking water. (Governments have the legal right to buy property at fair market value when it is needed for the public good. Expropriation prevents sellers from demanding obscene prices). -
Implement a permanent moratorium on new, single-use bottled water permits and a phase-out of the current permits. -
Seek free, prior and informed consent from the Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation about any future use of the Middlebrook well.
To join with the 46,989 people who have signed our Boycott Nestle Pledge, click here. To “Donate to stop Nestle and support the community fight-back!”, please click here.
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