To our Premier Doug Ford,…

To our Premier Doug Ford, Ontario Minister of the Environment Todd McCarthy, and to all our elected members of the Ontario Provincial Government,

I strenuously object to the proposed changes to provide flexibility for water taking activities. It will become a matter of prioritizing industry over people and the environment, at exactly the time that climate change and our much hotter summers mean that water supply, and the need to regularly reassess environmental impacts of water use, will be even more crucial.

The federal government has kept buying water out of treaties with the US, so that we keep sovereignty and control over this resource in Canada. Provincial governments must also protect Canadian public control over managing the use of water, and that means rights to commercialize water must be strongly restricted. I am against the decisions the provincial government has been taking that removes the rights of municipalities to make decisions that are best for their communities, and this proposal is another one of these actions. Corporations are never going to act in the interest of the public good, so this interest has to be protected by our government, not given away.

I urge the MOE to reject the proposed changes to regulations for permits to take water, absolutely no transferrable permits on the private market. New owners must be required to apply for a new permit
through a public, scientific and Indigenous-informed review process, no short cuts!! The short cuts just cost us more in the long run. The MOE must uphold the duty to consult Indigenous nations as required by provincial and constitutional law; failure to do this will just cost taxpayers more in legal bills , do not skip this step.

Water must be treated as a public trust by all our levels of government, not a natural resource to be extracted and monetized. It is not, and never should become, a private asset in any way.

Sincerely,

Mary Hayes

29 Oriole Drive,
Ottawa, ON
K1J 7E8