Resources: Media Releases

PRESS RELEASE
For immediate release
January 6, 2006

OTTAWA - This afternoon, the Council of Canadians is hand-delivering a letter to Stephane Dion, Canada’s Minister of the Environment. Canada’s largest citizen’s organization is demanding that the Liberal government reverse its policies promoting the privatization of water around the world.

Anil Naidoo, Coordinator of the Blue Planet Project with the Council said, “This government has a track record that clearly favours corporate rights over human rights. As the election is increasingly framed around values, we are asking the two front-running parties, the Liberals and the Conservatives to clarify how their positions reflect Canadian values.”

In 2002 and again in 2003, at the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, Canada was alone in voting against recognizing water as a human right and resisting the appointment of a special rapporteur on water. The Council of Canadians is calling on the government to respect the wishes of Canadians as reflected in a 2004 Ipsos-Reid poll demonstrating that 97% of Canadians believed “Canada should adopt a comprehensive national water policy that recognizes clean drinking water as a basic human right”.

The letter to Mr. Dion also pressures the Liberal government to withdraw its support for the ongoing GATS negotiations. “At the WTO, Canada is promoting a process that will force poor countries to liberalize delivery of essential services such as water” says Mr. Naidoo. “Given Canada’s record, we are also very concerned that Canada is one of the key countries drafting the ministerial declaration later this month in Geneva for the upcoming 4th World Water Forum. We will be watching this process very closely.” The Conservatives have been silent on the issue of the right to water.

Founded in 1985, the Council of Canadians is Canada’s largest citizens’ organization, with members and chapters across the country. The organization works to protect Canadian independence by promoting progressive policies on fair trade, clean water, safe food, public health care, and other issues of social and economic concern to Canadians.

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For more information, contact: Meera Karunananthan, Media Officer Tel.: (613) 233-4487, ext. 234; Cell: (613) 795-8685; meera@canadians.org.