Tuesday 28 September 2010

Harper government supports privatizing and selling off our water

[20-Sep-10] Council of Canadians condemns Harper's sponsorship of water privatization conference
Excerpts:
Montreal - The Council of Canadians is condemning the Harper government
for its sponsorship of an international conference of water
corporations that are seeking to privatize the resource.

...
"It is shameful that Environment Canada is co-sponsoring the World
Water Congress," says Council of Canadians Director of Campaigns and
Communications Brent Patterson. “The World Water Congress is a
conference of large, unaccountable water corporations like Suez
Environnement and Veolia Water, as well as the Oil Sands Developers
Group. The focus of their meeting in Montreal this week is on how to
profit from water scarcity and private water services."

...

"The federal government also currently compels municipalities to
explore P3s under the Building Canada Fund," notes Council of Canadians
Ontario/Quebec Regional Organizer Mark Calzavara. "Harper should stop
trying to force communities to 'partner' with corporations. Instead,
the federal government should create a national water infrastructure
fund and ensure clean water is delivered as a public service."

"The Prime Minister and the privateers at the World Water
Congress would like to be able to sell water for profit to the highest
bidder, but public water is a human right," adds Karunananthan. "The
Harper government still seems oblivious to the realities of increasing
water scarcity and climate change. It's clear most Canadians and
Quebeckers support the right to water, so the question is why doesn't
Harper?"



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