Photo PANow
The Council of Canadians Prince Albert chapter has won their city council executive committee’s support for the human right to water and publicly financed, owned and operated water and wastewater services.
PANow reports, “Prince Albert came close to declaring itself a ‘blue’ community, but couldn’t agree on one major sticking point. Nancy Carswell, with the P.A. chapter of the Council of Canadians, challenged city council Monday [March 13] to take three actions to protect water: recognize water as a human right, promote publically owned and financed water, and ban the sale of bottled water at city run events. Although council supported two of the actions, there was hesitation surrounding banning water bottles.”
The article then highlights, “Council later supported a motion put forward by Coun. Terra Lennox-Zepp to officially recognize water as a human right and support publically owned water and wastewater services.”
The motion approved at the executive committee on March 13 will now go to the full city council, which meets next on March 27 and April 24.
Carswell hopes for success at the city council meeting and notes that the chapter will try for the bottled water ban next year.
As noted in this campaign blog, Carswell first approached Prince Albert city council about the blue community resolutions in March 2013. And as highlighted in this blog, chapter activist Rick Sawa approached city council again in March 2014.
The chapter has made a series of attempts at securing a blue community designation for Prince Albert since then as well.
Congratulations to the Prince Albert chapter for their persistence and for this first important win toward the upcoming full city council vote!
There are currently 18 blue communities in Canada, including:
Atlantic – District of Lunenburg
Ontario-Quebec – Thunder Bay, Bayfield, Tay Township, Amqui, Thorold, Welland, St. Catharines, Niagara Falls, Ajax, Tiny Township
Pacific – Tsal’alh, St’át’imc Territory, Comox, Cumberland, Nanaimo, North Vancouver, Victoria, Burnaby
Chapters are also working to designate eight more municipalities as blue communities: Brandon/Westman (they will present to their city council on March 20), Saskatoon, Montreal, Toronto, South Shore, Charlottetown, Stratford, and St. John’s.
For more information on our blue communities campaign, please click here.
