Dear Editor:
RE: Nestlé’s intentions, March 19.
Sandra Solomon seems to question the apparent lack of negotiations that did or did not occur between Centre Wellington over the Middlebrook Well.
She implies that Nestlé Waters’ water taking only amounts to one per cent of municipal consumption and that the loss of Nestlé would impact taxes. Her conciliatory tone makes me suspect that either she or a relation has some tie to Nestlé.
I truly believe that most corporations’ first and foremost motivation is profit. There is nothing wrong with that, but I am skeptical when they make overtures of being a good corporate citizen to justify their continued business, be it harmful to the community or not.
The very large majority of Canada has clean drinkable municipal water, with the exception of some Indigenous communities, and there should not be a need for bottled water except in those cases. The drinking water issue in Indigenous communities is a failure of our federal government and should be fixed by only bottled water in the short term.
Quite frankly, in my opinion the bottle water industry in Canada should only exist under the following conditions: 1) All bottles should be recyclable with a deposit required; 2) The water bottle companies should pay the same water rates as any residential water ratepayers, with the municipalities collecting commensurate taxes.
I’m sure under those conditions water bottlers would quickly realize that their business model would no longer be viable. Problem solved!
Heather Charbonneau,
Hillsburgh
