Edited by Adèle M. Hurley
From The Program On Water Issues (POWI)
Abstract: There are few public policy objectives that command greater consensus in Canada than the principle that Canada should not permit the bulk removal of freshwater from its natural basins. It is a principle that is agreed to by all major political parties and is supported by the great majority of ordinary Canadians. While Canadians may disagree over whether or not our water resources are adequately protected by existing laws, they do not in general disagree with the proposition that Canada’s water resources should be protected. The debates on water during the negotiations for the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement in 1988 and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1993, as an example, centred not on whether we should be protecting our water resources, but on whether these trade agreements did or did not increase the likelihood of bulk water removals.