Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague, the member for Fundy—Royal, who moved our opposition day motion today. It is rather timely and certainly rather topical. The member for Fundy—Royal has been working on the issue quite a while, even before the current problems in North Battleford, Saskatchewan. The issue was on the minds of Canadians even before the terrible happenings in North Battleford.
I congratulate my other colleague, the hon. member for Richmond—Arthabaska, who as we all know was the previous mayor of Asbestos.
I will deal with two areas. One relates to my previous municipal experience. I will also touch briefly on the area of federal responsibility, as the federal government has a large responsibility for first nations people in Manitoba and Saskatchewan.
We accept the motion and hope members of the government and other opposition parties accept it. No commodity in our world, our country and our municipalities is more sacred than water. If we do not have food, clean air and water then what we know as life cannot exist. We must put our priorities in perspective and water is one of them.
In 1993 the federal government and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities put an infrastructure program into place. It was a tripartite arrangement between the federal, provincial and municipal governments.
I mention that for specific reasons. First, co-operative federalism has worked in all provinces. All levels of government, municipal, provincial and federal, got together and said they had needs which could best be served by working together. We all work for the same people. Our constituents are the constituents of all three levels of government. It is therefore important that we work together to provide the best services we can.
The infrastructure program was about dollars. We are talking about standards. We can, through compromise and consensus among all levels of government, put proper standards into place that benefit all provinces and peoples throughout the country.
In 1993 my community had access to millions of dollars and I played a role in decision making. We put the majority of those dollars into the sewer and water infrastructure our constituents needed to be able to work and live in the community. We put most of the money into water. As mentioned, single source communities like North Battleford are running into serious issues of contamination. My community spent millions of dollars to find a second water supply. We spent those dollars knowing full well our constituents needed an uncontaminated water source.
We also put millions of dollars into the sewage treatment plant which sends sewage into the rivers. It was necessary to treat the effluent so people downstream would not suffer problems. I say with great pride that we spent those dollars in the right places.
The Federation of Canadian Municipalities says Canadians are the second highest users of water. It says Canadians use 300 litres of water per person per day. That is a huge amount. It is something we have taken for granted. We must put standards into place to make sure those 300 litres are of proper quality.
A member of the government mentioned that $2.6 billion over six years had been identified by the government to go into infrastructure. The Federation of Canadian Municipalities has indicated that infrastructure to ensure quality water for Canadian citizens would require some $16.5 billion. When $16.5 billion is needed, $2.6 billion over six years is but a drop in the bucket.
I suspect we can work together, provincially, municipally and federally, to put the necessary standards into place. We have a substantial number of first nations people in Manitoba, particularly in Saskatchewan.
I would like to quote from an article in which Chief Matthew Coon Come said:
“Walkerton made news across Canada,” the national chief of the Assembly of First Nations said. “But about one out of eight of our aboriginal communities are threatened by unsafe water, which each year kills our newborn and our elderly.
These deaths don't make the front pages of Canadian newspapers...
This accurately sums up the problems that are evident in our water supply in our aboriginal communities. One out of eight aboriginal communities today do not have proper water quality for the people they serve.
The national chief's statement is also supported by a 1995 Health Canada report that found that 171 reserves, or one in five at that time, had water systems that could affect the health and safety of the community if the problems were not addressed. Those problems were not addressed. Today there is still one in eight communities that still suffer through an inadequate water supply.
Drinking water became so bad a few years ago that aboriginal residents were told by health experts to give only bottled water to their pets because the quality was so bad. The assembly of first nations recently reported that 79 communities or 12% had what Health Canada called potentially dangerous drinking water. These statistics demonstrate the severity and the extent this issue has impacted those communities.
National water safety standards must take into account not only what is happening in our rural urban centres across Canada, but also in our aboriginal communities.
When I say that there is a need for us as Canadians to identify the need for water purification, I cannot underestimate the seriousness of that statement. The motion before us today sets those standards. We currently have guidelines that can or cannot be followed dependent upon how the jurisdiction wishes to follow them. We have no specific standard.
You have the opportunity, Mr. Speaker, to travel across the country as I do. I go from Manitoba to Alberta, to British Columbia to Quebec City or to the maritimes. When I take a glass of water I believe that, as a Canadian, I should be convinced that that water is of sufficient quality to drink and should not be afraid for my health, welfare and well-being. That is where we have to set the standards.
Right now in Canada we do not have a standard or guideline set for the testing of cryptosporidium, that very little parasite that is causing all that trouble in North Battleford. There is no need by our guidelines to test for that. That is utterly insane. The United States has a requirement, a guideline and a standard to test for cryptosporidium. When I go to my friend's in Alberta, I expect that the water supply not to be contaminated with cryptosporidium. However right now I do not know that.
That is why we are here today suggesting that the government, with the co-operative federalism, that wonderful buzzword, work in concert with provincial governments, as well as municipal governments, to put forward the standards which could be accepted. so that when I and my family travelled across Canada we would not have the possibility of encountering a water quality that would not be good for our health.
The Progressive Conservative party did not put forward this motion simply because of what has happened in the last number of days. In our policy statement and during the last election we indicated that this was a very serious issue. The PC party said that if we were in government we would introduce a safe water act which would legislate and ensure safe drinking water quality standards for Canadians. That would be harmonized with the provinces and territories.
Everyone across Canada should have that same security in knowing their water is safe. That comes from an election platform back in the year 2000. We put our money where our mouth was. We put our water where our platform was. I suspect that the government should embrace what our platform was.
The Conservative party also said that we would enshrine into law and harmonize with the provinces and territories Health Canada's guidelines for drinking water. As a result, any municipal water source in non-compliance would be immediately disclosed to the public. Transparency concerning the water supply would build the confidence that Canadians deserve. We had that policy in our platform, so we speak from the heart and from a policy that was put into place that speaks to this very issue.
I thank the House for the opportunity and the time to speak to what I consider to be one of the most, if not the most, important issues facing Canadians today.