EDITOR,
The provincial government is up to its same old tricks, pulling a fast one to privatize our B.C. water.
Ecojustice's Randy Christensen informs us that government statements relating to "modernizing" the B.C. Water Act from June 2008 until December 2010 de-emphasized the potential adoption of "market reforms" such as "water trading" that have devastated communities around the globe. Then in late December, the B.C. government posted the "proposed framework" for new water laws that introduces water rights trading (section 5). This approach neglects the need for good governance and views markets as a solution that solves all problems.
As proposed, this modernization is just another initiative that pays lip service to protecting the environment and public interest while delivering the goods to the large corporations that have long dominated the province.
What's most dangerous about this proposal is that it will privatize water in a way that becomes effectively irreversible. Right now, one gets a "licence" to use water that the government may alter or revoke without (generally speaking) having to pay compensation. However, once the licence to use a public resource is converted into a tradable economic right that is held and may be sold, any changes to the system that affect that right will undoubtedly spur lawsuits against the government.
With water shortages in the U.S. and other parts of the world, water will likely become more valuable than oil and we will be required to buy it back, bidding against international interests.
To a similar proposal by the Alberta government, Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow commented "letting the market decide who will have access to water violates the public trust doctrine, a principle of common law which regards water as belonging equally to all peoples and managed by government on their behalf. If this proposal goes forward, you can pretty much write off any chance of ever meaningfully recognizing a human right to water or a public trust over water."
The website vancouverislandwaterwatch.ca has posted information. Before the Feb. 21 deadline, you can comment on the government web page at http:/blog.gov.bc.ca/livingwatersmart/2010/12/17/policy-proposal-on-british-columbia%E2%80%99s-new-water-sustainability-act-released/
This Liberal government proposal to change the Water Act amounts to stealing the inheritance of our grandchildren and those who come after us and giving it to multinational corporations.
Lyle Fenton
Squamish
