Re. Triton's PTTW. The…

Re. Triton's PTTW. The question of who owns Canadian water is as murky as the water on many First Nations lands. In theory, the provinces have owned the water since 1930, when the federal government delegated ownership with the Natural Resources Transfer Act. According to that act, the provinces have the right to sell their water to whomever they want, including companies like Triton, or their predecessor, Nestlé.

On the other hand, water could also be considered to be regulated by the federal government, which is responsible for the natural environment and Canada’s waterways. In addition, according to the Canadian constitution, the federal government has a “duty to accommodate and consult” First Nations and to make sure other parties do the same when extracting any natural resource, including water, from indigenous land.

This legal ambiguity has allowed certain companies to move in and extract precious water for next to nothing. Meantime, local First Nations and their neighbours suffer with substandard water supplies, which competing water extraction industries can only make worse. I don't support a PTTW in any area where the local community does not have a safe and adequate drinking water supply, except for a PTTW which serves that community as well.