Montreal Economique Thinque Tanque: Let's Sell Quebec's Water

Just a few days I posted an item about a Canadian government report speculating about potential fresh water shortages in Canada.

So now comes an article (thanks to R. Teeter) by business writer Lisa Wright from the 28 August Toronto Star, based on a report from the Montreal Economic Institute, Freshwater exports for the development of Quebec's blue gold by Marcel Boyer. In this case, the seller would be a public, not private, entity - the Province of Quebec.

Reading the comments to the newspaper's story is worthwhile.

Here are copies of the press release, and the entire report.

The report claims that Canada has far more annual renewable fresh water reserves per capita than the USA: 100,000 cubic meters (26.4 MG) versus fewer than 10,000 cubic meters (2.6 MG). In Quebec, the figure is even higher: 130,000 cubic meters (34.3 MG). Canada has 9% of the world's renewable fresh water reserves, and Quebec has 3%.

The report further asserts that Quebec uses only 0.5% of its annual renewable fresh water, versus 19% in the USA. If Quebec sold just 10% of its annual renewable fresh water at the current price for desalted water (about 65 cents per cubic meter) and the Quebec government took 10% in royalties, that would amount to about $6.5B profit each year for the provincial government.

As you might guess, this idea doesn't go over real well with the Council of Canadians.

From the article:

But the Council of Canadians is adamantly opposed to the practice of selling the nation's water, and says it's actually not as plentiful as people think.

"We're concerned about that. We know there's pressure from the U.S. to export Canada's water. But we see water as a human right and a public resource," said Meera Karunananthan, the Council's national water campaigner.

"We don't want to see water commodified and commercialized in this manner," she said, noting it's a myth that Canada has abundant supplies of water.

"They see it as an economic opportunity, and clearly the motivation here is profit," added Karunananthan.

The last comment is interesting, because Quebec's "water profits" would presumably go to support the public good, unless I've missed something and provincial governments have become profit-making enterprises.

Regardless of how you feel about this topic, Boyer's report contains some useful information. Among other things, it discusses:

• Technologies and options for shipping water

• Main conditions for exporting water

• History of Canadian export projects (NAWAPA, NARA-GRAND Canal)

• Canada's obligations under NAFTA

• Water transfer agreements: Israel-Turkey, Lesotho-South Africa, France-Spain, intra-national

Noah Hall's Great Lakes Law blog also has a good analysis of this issue.

Nothing like the keeping the pot stirred in the Great White North.

"The great themes of Canadian history are as follows: keeping the Americans out, keeping the French in, and trying to get the Natives to somehow disappear." -- Will Ferguson 

Comments

[Paul]

It's amazing how the same liberal people who claim to be such good and caring souls are so quick to put a few moose ahead of the needs of people. Wake up people! There are going to be more people with more resource needs whether we like it or not, and we might as well profit from it in some way.

[David (Vendu Chez Nous Admin)]

The needs of people are directly linked to the needs of nature. You can not look at one without looking at both because of this. To say, "we might as well profit from it in some way." might be short sited if profiting from this could cause other problems.

[beste hypotheek]

WOW, what a great blog with extremely useful information. Thanks.