I have two points.
One is that you won't see the word “water” in NAFTA. What you'll see is the reference to the definition of a “good” that was in the old General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. When you go to that, you will see water in all its forms, including ice and snow. NAFTA adopted the old GATT tariff notion of a good, so water absolutely, definitely, is in NAFTA, which supersedes the provincial laws; not one of the provincial bans on water exports would stand up to a NAFTA challenge. We have to remove water as a good, an investment, and a service in NAFTA. We need to do that.
At the United Nations, I am ashamed that our government continues to oppose the right to water. We got a rebuke last year from a subcommittee of the United Nations for Canada's continued appalling position. The United Kingdom just changed its position; it is now favouring the right to water, as are most countries in the world. I believe the reason we continue to oppose the right to water is that we know it would violate the notion of water as a good in NAFTA.
So for that reason, and joining the community of nations moving towards a right-to-water convention, Canada needs to change its position on water and protect it ecologically and politically.