Ont. To Charge Bottlers for Great Lakes Water, but Few Specifics in Bill

TORONTO (CP) – Premier Dalton McGuinty admits details of Ontario’s plan to charge companies for the Great Lakes water that they bottle and sell may not be known before the October election.

McGuinty calls the plan to impose a fee on water bottlers a small step forward, and says eventually the province could start charging large industrial users for the water they take from the Great Lakes. The province says it is sending a message that businesses that use Ontario’s precious water resources must contribute their fair share toward the cost of managing them.

But the New Democrats complain there are no details in the government proposal, which they call an empty shell.

The Liberals will introduce legislation today to enact a 2005 agreement between Ontario, Quebec and eight U.S. states that restricts large-scale diversions of water from the Great Lakes basin.

Ontario’s existing ban on large diversions out of the Great Lakes, St. Lawrence River and the Nelson and Hudson Bay basins would become law under the act.