Pierre Poilievre promises to end ban on single-use plastic straws, other items
The Conservative Leader vows to end the federal single-use plastic ban on items like straws and grocery bags if his party is elected
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OTTAWA – Electing a Conservative government will mean never again speed-sipping your Coke Zero before the straw disintegrates, the Tory leader vows.
Speaking at a Friday morning campaign stop in Montreal, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre promised to do away with Canada’s single-use plastics ban – a contentious policy he said was less about saving the planet and more about saving a buck.
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“The Liberals’ plastics ban is not about the environment, it’s about cost and control,” Poilievre said, accusing the 2022 ban of driving up food prices and putting undue pressure on restaurant and store owners – and needlessly costing taxpayers a little more than a billion dollars over the next decade.
“The Liberals started by banning straws, check-out bags, cutlery and food containers – items used by everyday, hardworking Canadians, restaurants and families.”
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A Mark Carney government, Poilievre said, would expand that ban to include food packaging – holding up a plastic-wrapped bag of commercially-available sliced bread as an example.
“How long does this bread stay fresh and edible if it’s not packaged,” he said. “How many days before it gets dried out and mouldy?”
Poilievre also vowed an end to plans to establish federal standards for plastic packaging – a move meant to improve ease of recycling but a plan Poilievre described as a tax on plastic food packaging.
Under the Liberal policy, grocery stores would be required to eliminate 95% of their plastic food packaging by 2028.
U.S. President Donald Trump did away with a similar ban south of the border with an executive order signed shortly after taking office.
“Only 1% of plastic waste ever ends up in the environment, the other 99% is disposed of safely, or recycled,” Poilievre said. “But the Liberals don’t care, because this isn’t about science, it’s about symbolism and control.”
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