Water is our most valuable…

Water is our most valuable resource. Instead of protecting it, your government wants to make it near impossible for permits to ever expire, be cancelled, or revoked. If a permit is ever terminated, for any reason, like a person lied to get it, under this proposal it could be revived. When granting a permit I hope the past actions of the applicant are taken in to consideration. This process could allow for persons who would otherwise not be trusted with permits to get them.

The proposal also suggests that the Director could issue permits for the taking of water without consulting the registry. This proposal is part of a growing pattern of recent proposals that seek to limit consultation under the Environmental Bill of Rights, 1993, see ERO notices 025-0416 and 025-0391. This proposal does not provided sufficient information for the individual circumstances under each case where may be granted without ERO consultation. I'm strongly opposed to any changes that would further reduce mine and Ontarians' Environmental Rights. There are lacking details about how this proposal would ensure that any new processes established under this proposal would meet other obligations, like the duty to consult with Indigenous peoples. This government cannot be empowering the Director to issue permits without consulting affected peoples, especially Indigenous peoples.

This proposal follows a pattern of the government undermining rights it previously established. We've seen how in the past the government would introduce a protection, only to undermine later. In 2020, the government empowered municipal councils, granting them the power to control large-scale bottling in their municipalities. Now, this government seeks to limit that power, so that any approval is indefinite, and approval for anyone to operate the bottling plant, not just applicant. And it would stick these conditions on councils with past decisions that they may not have approved under these circumstances.

This government seems to be ignoring lessons of that past, that water needs profound protections, otherwise people die. Burden on companies want to take more than their fair share of water, is not as important as protecting the People's fundamental right to clean water.