Do Canadas trade obligations cover bulk water?
Nothing in any of Canada’s international trade obligations, including the GATS affects Canada’s ability to regulate water as a natural resource. Water in its natural state is a natural resource and is not a good for the purposes of trade agreements. Only when water is removed from its natural state does it become a good subject to trade disciplines dealing with Trade in Services. This would include, for example, bottled water for the commercial market.
