MEDIA RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 12, 2006

Latest water pipeline proposal underscores need for national water policy

New pressure to export Canadian water to the United States makes it more urgent for the federal government to develop a national water policy banning bulk water exports, says the Council of Canadians.

Bulk water exports was discussed at a recent conference in Banff where Paul Wihbey, president of a Washington consultancy called GWEST – the Global Water and Energy Strategy Team proposed a freshwater pipeline be built between Manitoba and Texas. Wihbey said “it is nearly inevitable that bulk water exports from Canada” will occur within the next “two to five years.”

“This is the latest in a series of calls for Canada to relax its regulations and allow bulk water exports to the United States,” says Maude Barlow, chairperson of the Council of Canadians. “Canadians are becoming increasingly impatient with the federal government’s refusal to deal with the problem.”

“Prime Minister Stephen Harper has failed to clarify his government's position on bulk water exports, and the Conservative government has done nothing to address growing concerns about the stability and quality of Canada's water supply,” says Susan Howatt, national water campaigner for the Council of Canadians.

With polls showing that Canadians feel strongly about the issue, a failure to address bulk water exports will severely harm the Conservative Party in the next election according to the citizens’ advocacy group.

A poll released last week by the Canada Institute of the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars and the Toronto-based Canada Institute on North American Issues found that while 72% of Americans favoured exporting more water from Canada to the United States, 76% of Canadians opposed bulk water exports.

The Council of Canadians demands that a new national water policy for Canada ban the export of water, implement strict restrictions on diversions, and affirm the role of the federal government in international water issues.

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For more information, please contact:
Dylan Penner, Media Officer, Council of Canadians: (613) 233-4487, ext. 249; 1-800-387-7177, ext. 249; .