Mr. Speaker, I compliment the NDP critic for the environment on the sentiment he expressed and on his willingness to ensure that we do not have exports of bulk water, whether they be in bulk form or interbasin transfers. That is the intent of the particular piece of legislation. I state publicly that the Progressive Conservative Party clearly supports the position that our natural heritage water is not for sale.
However I want to correct a particular point with respect to the Sun Belt application that was made under chapter 11 of NAFTA. It had nothing to do with the capacity of actually selling bulk water. The lawsuit was initiated because the province of British Columbia had granted permission for bulk water to be considered to be sold. It then got its head on straight and said it was not something it was interested in doing and chose to compensate the British Columbia company.
Once that was done, under NAFTA companies need to be treated equally on both sides of the border. The provincial government in B.C. compensated the B.C. company but did not want to compensate the American company. It made sense from the perspective of the approach and that is why the company was able to launch the challenge. It is not a bulk water perspective. It is a matter of treating companies on both sides of the border properly.
We suspect that the absurd amount the company is asking for will not be awarded in any way, shape or form. The most it should ever expect to get is what the province of British Columbia had initiated in the first place, and that actually protects investors.