The Telegraph-Journal reports today that, “The mayor (of Saint John) and Meera Karunananthan, a water campaigner with the Council of Canadians, are scheduled to hold a joint news conference today (at 3:00 pm AT) to outline why they feel the city should reconsider the ban (on bottled water).”
“The Council of Canadians’ stop in Saint John today is part of a broader campaign that calls on municipalities to resist public-partnerships on water projects, promote water as a human right and ban the sale of bottled water in public spaces.”
“The council’s water campaign, the Blue Communities Project, is a joint venture with the Canadian Union of Public Employees, the Ottawa River Keeper and Quebec-based Eau Secours, among other partners.”
The article reports that in September 2008 Saint John city council defeated a motion on bottled water by a single vote. The 5-5 vote would have carried had one councillor who supported the bottled water ban not been in the hospital.
“That resolution would have removed bottled water from vending machines and concessions in city-owned buildings, where tap water was available.”
Karunananthan says, “I actually do think there has been such a huge momentum around bottled water bans that I’m confident that municipalities who didn’t think it was viable in the past would be open to reconsidering.”
For more on the Blue Communities Project please go to http://canadians.org/bluecommunities.
The Telegraph-Journal article is at http://telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com/city/article/830754.
A CBC report on the September 2008 vote is at http://www.cbc.ca/canada/new-brunswick/story/2008/09/30/ban-bottled-water.html.
