The P.E.I. Council of Canadians is hosting a public meeting with Maude Barlow, honorary chairwoman of the national council, on Wednesday, Sept. 25.
The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. in the Georgian Room of the Rodd Charlottetown on Kent Street.
The discussion will be on blue communities, water protection and her new book, “Whose Water is it Anyway?’’, taking water protection into public hands.
“The facts are indisputable, our world’s freshwater sources are in danger,’’ Barlow said. “Now, more than ever, we need to make a commitment to protect water from pollution, abuse and corporate greed. And that's where the Blue Communities Project comes in.’’
The project is dedicated to three primary principles — that access to clean, drinkable water is a basic human right, that municipal and community water will be held in public hands and that single-use plastic water bottles will not be available in public spaces.
Barlow will examine the growing threats to water sources in a warming world, including P.E.I.
“We need a new water ethic that puts water protection and water justice at the heart of all our policies and laws.’’
Leo Broderick, past chairman of the Council of Canadians, will be joining the discussion.
“P.E.I. continues, despite the new Water Act, to experience significant threats to our ground water,’’ Broderick said.
“From high capacity wells, increased corporate agriculture with its dependence on high levels of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, to major coastal erosion and exploitation of loopholes in current water and land protection legislation, these are the threats to P.E.I.’s drinking water.’’
The moderator for the free public meeting will be Lori MacKay, immediate past-president of CUPE P.E.I. division., now serving as CUPE national servicing representative.
