(OTTAWA) The discovery today that a U.S. company intends to sue Canada over a British Columbia decision to ban bulk water exports has revealed another gaping hole in the North American Free Trade Agreement, says the Council of Canadians. Sun Belt Water, Inc., of Santa Barbara, has filed notice of intent to submit a claim against Canada under Chapter 11 of NAFTA, for stopping exports of billions of gallons of fresh water from British Columbia to California.

"The B.C. government acted to protect a natural resource, but under NAFTA they have to pay for that privilege," says Maude Barlow, chair of the Council of Canadians. "If our government has any hope or intention of preserving Canada’s fresh water as a publicly-owned and controlled resource, it has to plug the holes in NAFTA now or risk sinking with the ship. The push to privatize water is on. If Canadians want to maintain control of their fresh water, we must demand that the federal government act - beginning with a moratorium on all bulk water exports and facing the truth that NAFTA is a bad deal."

Yesterday the Council of Canadians, the Canadian Union of Public Employees and the Canadian Environmental Law Association launched a campaign to protect Canada’s fresh water from being privatized domestically and exported internationally. The coalition put forth several principles under which legislation protecting fresh water could be enacted - including a strong environmental component.

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