Geo Pod III CONS Good morning Madame speaker. Today I will be discussing the topic of why Canada should not sell water in bulk exports to other countries. The four points I will be discussing today will consist of: environmental consequences, economic instability, the free trade agreement, and water’s renewability. Water exports are a recurring, ever-controversial theme in Canada. Canadian public opinion has always reacted negatively to the idea of selling our most precious natural resource to others. However, rapid industrialization and technological developments have brought about a world where freshwater reserves are dwindling and consumption is higher than ever. The looming prospect of climate change and its possible effects on the availability
…show more content…
Water is considered a tradable good under the terms of NAFTA when it is not in its natural state. The action of removing the water and putting it in a container legally turns water into a tradable good, which is precisely what water corporations want to do. Water corporations can certainly make use of the presence of these legal loopholes to take advantage of the situation. Some activists argue that any commercial transaction of any volume of bulk water would essentially classify all of the country’s water as a tradable good covered under the provisions of NAFTA. If water were to be defined as a commodity, NAFTA would restrict the Canadian government’s ability to ban water exports. If a Canadian company gained the right to export Canadian water, American multinationals would have the right to sue under NAFTA’s national treatment clause to help themselves to as much Canadian water as they wanted. During the 1999 world trade organization conference, a congressional delegation from the Great Lakes region and trade representatives from Canada tried to ensure that water exports are prohibited. The Clinton administration resisted the move, contending that treaties currently in place are sufficient. Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Richard Fisher added that bringing the issue before the conference “would risk creating an international issue where none currently exists”. The report states that “although it seems clear that climate change and continued reports of worldwide water shortages will continue to keep discussion of bulk water shipments alive, the cost of such shipments makes it unlikely that there will be serious efforts to take Great Lakes water to foreign markets, and cost will continue to serve as an impediment to bulk shipments from coastal
Water is considered a tradable good under the terms of NAFTA when it is not in its natural state. The action of removing the water and putting it in a container legally turns water into a tradable good, which is precisely what water corporations want to do. Water corporations can certainly make use of the presence of these legal loopholes to take advantage of the situation. Some activists argue that any commercial transaction of any volume of bulk water would essentially classify all of the country’s water as a tradable good covered under the provisions of NAFTA. If water were to be defined as a commodity, NAFTA would restrict the Canadian government’s ability to ban water exports. If a Canadian company gained the right to export Canadian water, American multinationals would have the right to sue under NAFTA’s national treatment clause to help themselves to as much Canadian water as they wanted. During the 1999 world trade organization conference, a congressional delegation from the Great Lakes region and trade representatives from Canada tried to ensure that water exports are prohibited. The Clinton administration resisted the move, contending that treaties currently in place are sufficient. Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Richard Fisher added that bringing the issue before the conference “would risk creating an international issue where none currently exists”. The report states that “although it seems clear that climate change and continued reports of worldwide water shortages will continue to keep discussion of bulk water shipments alive, the cost of such shipments makes it unlikely that there will be serious efforts to take Great Lakes water to foreign markets, and cost will continue to serve as an impediment to bulk shipments from coastal