Attention of the Ontario…

Attention of the Ontario Government:

I am commenting on “Proposed changes to provide flexibility for water taking activities”. The proposed
regulatory amendment is a further all-encompassing erosion of the province of Ontario’s environmental protections. In this round of amendments, the Ontario Government forgets that it is eroding the democratic right of the provinces citizens to have public oversight, ignores our indigenous brethren, and increases the privatization and literal mining of the province’s mutual water systems. This is unsatisfactory!

The amendments were originally looked at as affecting one particular industry, however it is apparent that the approach will be applied to many types of water-taking permits such as mining, aggregate quarries, industrial uses, exploration, and other commercial concerns. Most unfortunate is that the amendments can be grandfathered possibly even including expired permits, raising valid questions of transparency, regulatory accountability, and the potential for assumed water-taking rights contrary to the public interest.

The proposed amendments have far-reaching affects. The drinking water of the citizens of the province of Ontario is far and above more important than the desires of companies doing the water-taking for profit.

1) Water-taking Permits are not transferable

It is beneficial to citizens if a new owner applies for a new Permit To Take Water (abbrev. PTTW) to maintain environmental integrity, community protections, and the trust of the public. Current policy sees a permit cancelled upon new ownership; hence a new application is applied for thus allowing:

a) review of the intended water use;
b) effect on the natural environment and existing water supply;
c) a paper trail is available to track the new operator’s legitimacy;
d) citizens have the right to comment on and view the accountability of any new operator.

Remember Walkerton, well the current legal safeguards exist to prevent such events from happening again due to regulatory backsliding and prevents operators from speculation for water exploitation.

2) Why new owners are required to get a new application

PTTWs are about the site and the operator doing the taking. When ownership changes happen, there may be other:

a) Changes to the environmental and legal liabilities
of the operator;
b) Changes to a water facility’s usage patterns,
ways of processing, or other technologies;
c) Changes in hydrogeological data and the scientific understanding of the water-taking sustainability
over time.

Making grandfathered or automatic transfers voids regulatory standards, allows ambiguity, and makes a mockery of monitoring. This is unacceptable to citizens because unsustainability of water supplies is threatened.

3) Ontario is not respecting our Indigenous brethren by ignoring their rights and avoiding consultation

In Canada’s Constitution Act 1982 in Section 35 - the province of Ontario is legally obliged to consult our Indigenous brethren when their rights are impacted by decisions regarding land and water that fall under their legal jurisdiction.

Proposed amendments would:

a) bypass consultation requirements by allowing ownership-based permit transfers without a new
application;
b) erase the duty to consult resulting in a breach of legal obligations and ignoring principles of reconciliation.

There is a Guideline for Ontario Ministries that promotes the duty to consult with our Indigenous brethren. Negating the permitting process in this fashion violates the Guideline.

4) Climate Change and Groundwater Security

In this time of climate change, Ontario’s groundwater protections must be maintained. Aquifers are finite, vulnerable to over-exploitation, and take many millenniums for replenishment.

Grandfathered or automatic permit transfers risk:

a) Unsustainable water withdrawls;
b) Debasement of freshwater and wetland ecosystems;
c) Reduced agricultural resilience and drinking water availability.

Re water security, it is not only provincial in scope but also national. Permits without scrutiny might allow Canadian freshwater resources to be locked up in trade obligations, perhaps under agreements such as the USMCA Free Trade Agreement. Thus, future governments’ ability to protect/reclaim water control would be restricted.

5) Citizen Interest and the Moral Responsibility

Permit systems are to be operated in the interest of Citizens, and not for the interests of private corporations. The amendments could encourage:

a) Land speculation to buy up water access;
b) Loss of accountability vis-à-vis water users and what they’re doing;
c) Regulatory regimes that treat water as a privatized commodity rather than a public trust.

The shift is amoral. It mirrors deliberate prioritization of corporate convenience over ecohealth, social equity, and the democratic regulation of water.

6) Citizen Opposition and Popular Sentiment

Water-taking decisions have consistently drawn myriad Citizen comments in Ontario, the vast majority which are in opposition. Across the political divide, Citizens have called for:

a) Strong oversight of large-volume water use;
b) Phase out of water-takings that favour private profit over Citizen’s well being;
c) Greater protections for groundwater where there’s ecological uncertainty;
d) Consideration of cumulative impacts and place-based water availability in the permit process.

The proposed amendments ignore the democratic will of Citizens. This is not minor because it means a fundamental shift of water governance that Citizens do not want nor support.

7) A Citizen’s Recommended Next Steps

The proposed amendments leave open the opportunity for wanton water extraction by allowing permits to be transferred without required scrutiny, consultation, or environmental review. Hence, this would lead to a system that favours perpetual permitting, that sidesteps accountability, and that quickens ecological impairment.

Citizen recommended next steps as follows:

a) Reject the proposed amendments to PTTW regulations;
b) Reassert that ALL new owners must apply for a new permit through public, scientific, and Indigenous-informed review processes;
c) Uphold the duty to consult our Indigenous brethren as noted in provincial and constitutional laws;
d) Treat the province’s water as a Citizen trust and not that of private asset.
e) Listen to Citizen’s comments on the proposed amendments;

These proposed amendments to the PTTW are not a technical switch but rather a major process about the kind of Ontario that Citizens wish to live in. Consider that the decision be one that protects water for us all, for the natural environment, and for our future Citizens down the road.

Remember that Water Is Life and without it there are no Citizens of Ontario and no natural environments in our great Province.

-- One Citizen’s thank you for the opportunity to comment!!!