This morning at the Liberal Party of Canada convention in Vancouver, Liberal delegates voted in favour of a resolution that states, “Canada establish a National Water Policy that would protect water from commoditization, and from international agreements that would undermine the authority of the Canadian government and citizens by introducing binding legislation to ban bulk water exports; and committing the federal government to enter talks with the U.S. and Mexico to exclude water from NAFTA and all future trade agreements; (and) enshrine water as a human right to ensure that all people living in Canada are legally entitled to safe, clean, drinking water and water for sanitation in sufficient quantities…”
The Council of Canadians (particularly national water campaigner Meera Karunananthan) worked hard to have this important resolution passed and this past Wednesday sent an open letter to the Liberals calling on them to support this effort.
That open letter was signed by Council of Canadians chair Maude Barlow, David Brooks of Friends of the Earth Canada, water-expert David Schindler of the University of Alberta, Clayton Thomas-Mueller of the Indigenous Environmental Network, Tony Clarke of the Polaris Institute and others.
The letter stated, “We congratulate the Liberal Party of Canada (Ontario) for putting forward a resolution calling for a national water policy that bans bulk water exports, establishes enforceable clean water standards, calls for a conservation strategy, demands the exclusion of water from NAFTA and recognizes water as a human right.”
More than 1,500 delegates are at the Liberal Party of Canada ‘2009 Biennial Convention’ in Vancouver.
In the most recent Ipsos Reid poll, the Liberals stand at 36 percent support, while the Harper Conservatives are at 33 percent.
Our media release ‘Liberals encouraged to support right to water at Vancouver convention’, can be read at http://canadians.org/media/water/2009/29-Apr-09.html.
