The de Gaspe Beaubien Foundation enthusiastically applauds Prime Minister Francois Legault’s announcement at the COP15. He committed to introducing a bill comprising ways in which to evaluate water use costs for commercial users in Quebec and the implementation of royalties. By combining such Ecofiscal measures with the Blue Fund in Québec with a solid Canadian water Agency, as promised by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, we are on the right track to restore and preserve Quebec and Canada’s water sources.
The Quebec Government’s Commitment
The Quebec government recently revealed that it had only received 3 million dollars for the collection of 811 billion litres of water in 2021. The Prime Minister has deemed this amount to be unacceptable. A more equitable rate will therefore be established in order to avoid abuse. This increase will be paid to the Blue Fund in the form of royalties.
Announced last August, the Blue Fund has a budget of 650 billion dollars for the next mandate and is partially funded by the royalties paid by the industries that use our water. It will be used to fund resources in various water preservation projects such as the cleaning of our riverbanks or the recovery of our shoreline strips. Quebec estimates that the Fund should reach 150 million dollars per year by the end of the CAQ’s mandate.
“The Blue Fund is an indispensable and incredibly important initiative. We particularly applaud their royalty plan. We have all seen the impacts of maintaining the status quo and it is now time to act! I have hope that this project will bring positive changes and necessary improvements to the health and protection of our water.” – Nan-b de Gaspe Beaubien
“Provided with its royalty plan, the Blue Fund was a vital requirement and constitutes a positive sign from the Quebec government. We believe in the future of Quebec, which seems to be going in the right direction. However, we hope that innovation, new technologies, and entrepreneurship will be at the heart of the Fund’s projects.” – Dominique Monchamp
A Long-Awaited and Vital Initiative
In August 2022, the Prime Minister declared:” Over the years, we have taken this wealth a little bit too much for granted. We have to take better care of our water in Quebec. When we see the droughts in France, the U.S.A, Mexico, etc. we realize how strategic this water is for our future. For myself and the whole CAQ team, it has become a priority to protect our lakes, rivers, and sources of drinking water. We have to give more love to our lakes and rivers.” We are happy to see actions come from this declaration!
The de Gaspe Beaubien Foundation is of the same opinion. Water preservation is an extremely important issue and must be taken into consideration now. We were impatiently waiting to see our elected officials take the future of water seriously.
The Experts’ Opinion
The Environmental Network has been recommending the adoption of Ecofiscal measures for the water industry since June of 2022. It even created a committee of experts made up of municipal representatives as well as municipal, academic, civil society, and private sector infrastructure managers to discuss the regulations in place for the water industry, and the recommendations to follow.
This committee created a memoire comprising, among other things, six essential recommendations regarding the royalties, complete transparency, and accountability.
Their recommendations:
- Increase the disclosure of data regarding the volume of water collected and the different uses of water in Quebec.
- Improve and equip industries with the necessary management tools.
- Disclose projects that benefitted from the royalty funds.
- Rethink the use of the royalty funds.
- Update the rate of the royalties and the regulations more regularly.
- Revise the amount of the royalty.
The Environmental Network explains:” The observations and recommendations made in this memoire all come to the same conclusion; we need to increase the amount of the royalty. The user pays principle, largely used around the world, demands that the users contribute to the funding of the acquisition and knowledge transfer, as well as to the management system and protection measures.”
According to them, the best solution is to adopt a formula based on a new base rate that would be adjusted according to the three following factors:
- The volume of water collected by the user.
- The economic activity sector.
- The catchment area.
The Use of Water Elsewhere in the World
Industries that use water in Canada or elsewhere in the world are required to pay a fee. The following chart gives a few examples **.
(In order to make the chart easier to understand, a fixed exchange rate was used to convert the euros into Canadian dollars: 1 € = 1,35 $).
**Source of the table : Mémoire produit par Réseau Environnement - Révision des redevances exigibles pour l’utilisation de l’eau – Novembre 2022
The Blue Fund and the revision of the royalty rate are encouraging steps toward the protection and maintenance of water sources. We applaud this decision and hope that actions will be implemented quickly. In order to ensure the well-being of future generations, more sustainable practices must be adopted. These practices start with Ecofiscal and governmental practices such as the ones mentioned in this article.