In this URBANIA article, WSG member Valérie Belle-Isle, Partner at Lavery offers key insights on water governance, emphasizing that while Quebec’s regulatory framework provides significant legal protections, these mechanisms remain largely underleveraged in practice. She emphasizes that the future of water commodification depends less on legal tools than on how actively governments enforce them, highlighting the need for more proactive authority amid growing pressure to balance resource management, public interest and commercial activity. Her perspective reflects a broader global reality in which, across jurisdictions, the persistent gap between regulatory design and implementation continues to shape outcomes in natural resource governance.
