The Council of Canadians released polling results today indicating that 82% of Ontario residents want the provincial government to permanently stop issuing permits for extracting groundwater to sell as bottled water.
The Ontario government is currently considering whether to extend a temporary moratorium on these permits which will end on January 1, 2019.
“This is one of the strongest poll results we have ever seen,” said Emma Lui, Water Campaigner with the Council of Canadians. “Minister Phillips should listen to the people of Ontario and permanently ban groundwater extraction for bottled water. The human right to water for all must be protected.”
Polling question and preamble:
“In Ontario, bottled water corporations like Nestle pay a fee of just 1/20th of a penny for each litre of groundwater they extract, while they sell their single-use plastic bottles of water at a high markup. Canadian bottled water exports to the USA have increased by 383% in eight years.”
“Given that groundwater resources are vulnerable to over extraction, pollution and the effects of climate change, should Ontario stop issuing new or expanded permits to bottled water corporations?”
82% said that Ontario should stop issuing new or expanded permits to water bottling companies, 11% disagreed and only 7% said they were unsure.
The polling was done between November 15th and November 22nd by Oraclepoll Research. 1500 people in Ontario were surveyed. The margin of error is ± 2.5%, 19 times out of 20.
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For more information or to arrange interviews:
Dylan Penner, Media Officer, Council of Canadians, 613-795-8685, dpenner@canadians.org. Twitter: @CouncilOfCDNs
