Natural Resources committee  To be absolutely candid, I really have no idea what would happen. It has not been tried. One of the problems with bulk export in most situations is that it's simply not economical. You're not going to make money; it will cost more to do than it will be worth. So it's not likely

Natural Resources committee  There is a sign in Las Vegas at an outdoor shopping mall fountain that says: “The water in this fountain does not come from the Colorado River Basin. It comes from northern states or Canada”. We tracked that down. It does not come from Canada; it comes from just a few miles outsi

Natural Resources committee  Regarding the marketing of water resources, I would simply add that exporting water in bulk to the United States could conceivably be a cost-effective move, as the distances involved are not too great. However, exporting water in this manner elsewhere is absolutely not cost-effec

Natural Resources committee  I'm reluctant to go too far with “shoulds”. As a civil servant, I officially represent my minister who, I guess, right now, is the Right Honourable Stephen Harper. I'm not going to say, on his behalf, what this committee should be doing. Certainly looking at the use of water in

Natural Resources committee  These are fairly complex questions. Indeed, data on water availability and usage in Canada is not as comprehensive as we would like it to be. However, Statistics Canada has examined or is currently examining water usage by industry, farmers and average citizens. Our ability to co

Natural Resources committee  I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to address all five of those questions very thoroughly. In terms of future pressure—which may also provide a leadership role for the federal government—there has been a developing paradigm called source-to-tap water protection, where you try

Natural Resources committee  Thank you. Ten minutes to cover everything there is to say about water is a pretty tall order, so I'm going to skip through very rapidly. If you don't mind, I will be speaking mainly in English. However, I will gladly answer your questions in French. I'm not going to cover in g