"A Victory for the People of Ontario"; SDS Professor responds as Nestlé leaves Canada

Friday, July 17, 2020

Package of Nestle Pure Life water bottles
Dr. Robert Case was recently interviewed by The Record and The Star on his view of global water giant Nestlé selling their Canadian "Pure Life" bottle business to local Ontario company Ice River Springs.

As Associate Professor in the Social Development Studies department, Dr. Case aims to teach the power of community connection and engagement to students through such classes as Comparative Social Policy (SDS 400R), Social Development and the Environment (SDS 260R) and Community Organization (SOCWK 222R).

He also serves as the board chair of the Wellington Water Watchers, a Guelph-based non-profit advocating for the safety and conservation of local drinking water since 2007. After many years of pressuring the government to hold Nestlé accountable for its environmentally destructive bottling policies (e.g. such as pressuring the Ontario government to forgo groundwater access restrictions during times of drought in 2012), Dr. Case considers their decision to leave Canada a victory - and still believes more can be done.

"...let’s finish the job by pushing our government to start phasing out permits to take water for bottling completely,” suggests Case, as quoted in The Record. “It’s great Nestlé is leaving, but it’s still the same problem.”

Dr. Case's talk on "Why for Profit Water Bottling is a Problem and What We can do About It" can be viewed on Renison's Youtube Channel.