Bottled water to get the boot, to environment minister’s surprise
Posted Apr 27, 2010 05:09:00 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The premier says bottled water will be pitched from some government offices.
The move is expected to save money and the environment – but it seems someone forgot to tell the environment minister.
Darrell Dexter told a CUPE union convention in Sydney he wants to see a bottled water ban in offices that have potable water available, saying the goal is to divert waste from landfills and use perfectly safe municipal water.
“We want to support the well-run municipal water systems that exist here in the province and make the point that you can get, for pennies a glass, some fo the highest quality and best tasting water anywhere,” he said Monday.
Dexter says his office has asked the Environment Department to draft a policy to prohibit bottled water in offices with potable tap water. The department will also investigate the feasability of the ban in other public buildings such as schools and hospitals.
But some eyebrows were raised at the legislature when Environment Minister Sterling Belliveau said he didn’t know about the plan before the premier made the announcement.
Conservative critic Chuck Porter says it shows the NDP is developing a top-down style of governing.
“Maybe that’s the way that Mr. Dexter’s going to run the show for the next few years and if that’s the case, why does he have a cabinet?” he said. “Why isn’t he just making all the decisions on his own?”
Dexter said it was just a case of the briefing notes not having worked through the department to reach Belliveau’s desk in time.
Meanwhile, the industry lobby group for bottled water says Dexter’s plans will do little to keep the bottles out of landfills.
Elizabeth Griswold, of the Canadian Bottled Water Association, says civil servants who consume bottled water are likely to turn to other packaged beverages instead.
