Is the SPP a threat to Canada’s freshwater?
Yes. Among the SPP’s biggest threats are water exports and the damage that would result from diverting water from watersheds and basins to consumers south of the border. Persistent droughts on the prairies and low water levels in the Great Lakes are good arguments against water exports. Federal studies show that the Great Lakes could not sustain removal of large volumes of water, especially with the compounding effects of climate change. Using rivers that flow north, as most of our rivers do, to supply the US would require monumental feats of engineering and inevitably lead to ecological devastation by reversing the streams’ natural flow. And Canada would lose control over its water. Because NAFTA describes water as a “good” and stipulates that “no party may adopt or maintain any prohibition or restriction on the exportation or sale for export of any good destined for the territory of another party,” it follows that once Canada starts exporting fresh water to the US, it would be imposs
