A CUPE British Columbia media release states, “Wendy Bales, Fraser Valley Regional District Area C Director, moved a motion last week for the board to contact the (Harper) government requesting that funding be made available for non-P3 water infrastructure projects. Ottawa has insisted that all federal water be tied to P3 projects. Bales explains that ‘water is a human right, it is a precious resource and we should not be giving away control of our water to a private company. If there is government funding available through a P3, surely there should be funding for a public project.'”
The Fraser Valley Regional District includes Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Mission, Hope and other communities. Bales represents Area C which includes Lake Errock, which we have noted is under threat from a gravel pit, http://canadians.org/blog/?p=10879.
Within the Fraser Valley Regional District, Mission recently opted against a P3 project, http://canadians.org/blog/?p=6367, while Abbotsford is spending $200,000 in a pro-privatization campaign toward the November 19 referendum in that city, http://canadians.org/blog/?p=11339.
In late-September, British Columbia’s municipal leaders voted, overwhelmingly, in favour of a ‘Blue Communities’ resolution at the Union of British Columbia Municipalities conference. There are three things a municipality must do in order to be acknowledged as a Blue Community. They must recognize water as a human right; commit to promoting publicly financed, owned and operated water and wastewater services, and ban the sales of bottled water in public facilities.
For more, please see http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/district-pressures-ottawa-on-p3-rules-1581447.htm.
