This proposal rewards wrong…

This proposal rewards wrong-doing: Corporations which buy water bottling permits WITHOUT notifying the Ministry are rewarded with exemptions from public comment, Indigenous consultation and consent, and environmental reviews. This is counter-productive;

Permitting in Ontario is based on old assumptions about water quantity and quality, not accounting for our longer and hotter summers, the shorter springs which speed run-off instead of absorption, or the growth in population and its attendant increases in water usage. If the premise is false, then the permit statement will be false.

Filtration is reduced affecting water quality; Infiltration is reduced affecting water quantity. These are a direct result of the expansion of hard surfaces in places that formerly were green space including farm lands and encroachments on wetlands. Where do we plan to get our food under this regime?

Permits need to have expiry dates on them, in part to allow for new science to tell if we need to reduce or eliminate them. Bottled water in particular is damaging to human and environmental health and would be good first step in legislation if it were banned in ll but the most catastrophic situations.