The persistent issues surrounding our local
water resources was one of the topics at a day long roundtable last Tuesday
hosted by Guelph Member of Parliament Frank Valeriote. Valeriote’s special
guest was Liberal Water Critic Francis Scarpaleggia, and together they gathered
over a dozen community members from city employees to University of Guelph Profs
to conservationists and activists. Valeriote began by saying that the issue
needed to be discussed because, as in the ancient past, we may be looking at
“wars over wells.”
“If we continue to take this (water
resources) for granted – quality as well as quantity – it’ll be coming much
sooner than we think,” he said.
Much of the early discussion focused on the
issue of water as a human right. Last year the United Nations Human Rights
Council removed references to access to water as a human right after countries
like Canada refused to support the measure. The stand of the Harper government
was that support of the human right to water would open the door to bulk
exportation of our water resources. Maude Barlow, chair of the Council of
Canadians, continues to criticize the Conservatives for this stand and
believes, along with others, that part of the reason for it is so that the door
to commoditization of water in this country could be kept open.
A reasonable suspicion, but as brought up
at the meeting, Barlow and others have been doing research into whether or not
the recognition of water as a human right would be in exchange for being
relieved of sovereignty over our own water supplies. According to several legal
opinions, what deeming water a human right would mean is that every country
would be responsible for making sure that their citizens have access to safe
and reliable drinking water.
"Unsafe water and sanitation are the
source of 85 per cent of all disease and one in every six people on Earth has
no access to clean drinking water," said Barlow in a statement on the Council
of Canadians website last month. "A UN covenant on the right to water
would serve as a common, coherent body of rules for all nations, rich and poor,
and clarify that it is the responsibility of the state to provide sufficient,
safe, accessible and affordable water to all of its citizens."
Scarpaleggia, the MP for Lac-Saint-Louis, PQ, was first
elected to Parliament in 2004. He started the party’s National Water Caucus in
2005 and has chaired the committee ever since. Scarpaleggia says that the
Opposition Liberals have taken a leading role in advocating for the protection
of Canada’s water resources. “I’m not an activist, I’m a politician,” he
explained. “I’m an activist within my party in trying to get them to pay
attention to the issue, and they’ve responded well. […] I’d like to see the
issue become a priority.”
Scarpaleggia added that despite the
government’s point blank refusal to support human rights recognition on water,
they’ve done so without studying the issue. Meanwhile, his special Liberal caucus
met with Barlow just weeks ago in order to explore the issue further. “My job
as a policy maker is to make sure some due diligence in done before we
respond,” he said, adding that the Harper government, as of yet, have not done
the due diligence, and are unqualified to respond either way.
See Guelph Buildings
“Guelph’s New City Hall is likely to be one
of the most popular buildings during this year’s Doors Open Guelph event,”
according to a City of Guelph press release. This Saturday, the city will open
the doors to a number of buildings of historical value in the Guelph Arts
Council’s annual Doors Open Guelph event. On this year’s tour, along with the
new City Hall, is the former Guelph Correctional Center, the Boathouse Café,
Hastings House, St. Mary's Ukrainian Catholic Church and the Guelph Little
Theatre. For more information, and a complete list of sites, go to the GAC’s
website at http://guelpharts.ca/doorsopenguelph/section.php?sid=766
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