Exposed: Canada’s Economic Action Plan Props up Bottled Water Company

OTTAWA/ August 26, 2009, Polaris Institute Press Release - Today’s announcement from the Office of the Minister of State, Denis Label, that Canada’s Economic Action Plan will provide $1,631,600 to bottled water producers Eaux Vives Water Inc. raises a number of major concerns:

The announcement erroneously states that Eaux Vives Water is a Saint Mathieu-d’Harricana, Quebec firm. While Eaux Vives Water has a plant in Quebec, its head office is located in Toronto and it is listed by the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission as a subsidiary of Morgan Stanley.

In North America, recent industry data shows that the bottled water sector has a diminishing market value and may not be able to create the long-term employment intended by Canada’s Economic Action Plan.

Bottled water is an environmentally harmful product filling landfills and causing carbon emissions.

“Canada needs sustainable long-term jobs; however, it is clear that investing public money in a diminishing sector with a negative environmental impact – and to a business that is partially owned by a large US corporation - will not create the jobs Canadians so desperately require,” explains Richard Girard, Research Coordinator for the Polaris Institute.

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Contact:

Richard Girard, Polaris Institute, 613 237-1717 ext 105

Joe Cressy, Polaris Institute, 613-668-5542