As an Ontario citizen…

As an Ontario citizen/taxpayer I would like to ask that our government make sure to set the rate per liter of water taken for this permit renewal to a level that better represents the true value of water to Ontario in 2021.

The average cost to the consumer to buy a 500 ml bottle of water is approximately $1.75. That means Triton collects $3.50/liter at the cash register. Multiply that by 1 million and their gross is $3.5 million. Subtract the $3.71 they were charged for the 1 million liters taken, and Triton is left with $3,499,996.29 to pay the other costs associated with bottling that water and getting it to the consumer.

Surely Ontario should be getting a much larger piece of Triton's gross amount, though, when you consider that without "our" water there would be nothing for them to sell.

By contrast, as a resident of Georgina I pay for the water I use a rate that is 70% of the rate Triton is paying. I'm not removing the water from my community, just basically using it and returning it to be cleaned for reuse. I understand that there is a cost to my municipality to maintain the system and to provide clean water to my household and gladly pay for it.

Please, charge the water bottling companies a rate that shows them we know the value of this resource and that Ontarians will no longer give them permission to steal it.

Thank you.