Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am happy to stand and join hands together on this motion, Mr. Speaker. Seriously, this is a very important statement that we are making in this House and I believe a formal motion like this is not one to be taken lightly. It is a stand and a strong position that this Legislature is taking as a collective body and saying to the world what we believe in and what we stand for.
Mr. Speaker, I see this as a guiding principle that should give direction to the government in all that it does in future as it relates to protection and looking after the health of our water, Mr. Speaker.
I don't know why, but I think this topic is conjuring up a lot of memories for a lot of Members here because when we are looking at climate change or quality of water, we think about what our forefathers have told us, we remember what we went through when we were little in terms of climate change. I know I am not the oldest Member in this House and not the youngest Member in the House, but I lived in a part of the world where we didn't have running taps in the house. Part of my daily chore was to get water from places where we all had to go to get it. There are people around the world, especially women, whose job it is, whose main job it is everyday to travel for hours to collect water just for mere survival of her family. Water is such a precious resource.
When the Member of Thebacha said, in explaining this motion, that it's really important that we understand water as public good and there is a fundamental right attached to that, that we can't make a commodity out of something as important as that, it's an important principle that we are speaking to. I think we should spend all our time and thinking behind this to make sure we live up to the spirit and direction that comes out of this motion.
Mr. Speaker, I just wanted to mention that earlier today we had a theme day discussion on water. One of the things that keeps coming up is we need to have a collective think tank, collective position, collectively work together on how we go about living up to the principles of a motion like this. I think in all that we do, whether it be resource development projects or building projects, our energy policy, our power policy, everything that we do we need to make sure that we address our mind to the importance of protecting our water and understanding that the water is fundamental to life -- it's more essential than life itself -- and that we abide by the guiding principle that we present today. With that, I am happy to support this motion.
---Applause