Dear Editor:
Councillor Jeff Duncan wrote recently that by accepting Nestlé’s ‘voluntary levy’ for water taken from Hillsburgh, the Town of Erin gets a “moral seat at the table with the water industry to apply a type of positive pressure…to improve its practices.” But since the bottled water industry is fundamentally unsustainable and undermines the universal right to safe water, how can taking this money be moral? Same goes for sitting at the water industry table. No thanks, Councillor Duncan.
On April 18, when the Town of Erin Council voted yes to taking the levy, a clear majority of the 125 citizens attending the meeting were local residents opposed to the Nestlé deal. Many listened from the lobby with their PLEASE SAY NO signs because fire regulations don’t permit more than 45 people seated in the council chamber. Prior to the meeting, many more Town of Erin residents signed petitions and cards opposing the levy.
In a joint declaration in February, bishops of the local United, Anglican, Evangelical Lutheran and Roman Catholic churches described water as a sacred gift that should not be commoditized for profit, and called for “a strategic and compassionate phase-out of the bottled water industry in Ontario over the next decade.” Erin Public School, led by its enthusiastic Water Rockers, has said no to free cases of Nestlé water to raise money at special events, and asks all students to keep reusable bottles at their desks for refilling at water stations around the school. St. John Brebeuf Parish has said no to bottled water, as have two local charities…
Jeff Duncan is out of step with most of our community on the Nestlé water issue.
Sincerely,
Liz Armstrong
Liz Armstrong