Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre suggested the cabinet should focus on promoting plastic recycling instead of implementing product bans.According to Blacklock’s Reporter, these comments came in response to a federal judge's decision to invalidate the 2021 federal designation of all plastic products, including building materials and children's toys, as toxic.“None of this is backed up by any science or evidence,” Poilievre told reporters. “The answer, the common-sense solution, is more recycling. We can recycle plastics. We have the best engineers in the world. That is a common-sense solution that doesn’t violate the Constitution and will allow for affordable, healthy living for Canadians.”In 2021, the cabinet designated all "plastic manufactured items" as toxic under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. However, Federal Court Justice Angela Furlanetto, in a ruling last Thursday, found that this blacklisting was not based on scientific evidence, was overly broad, and violated the constitution.“Once again, Justin Trudeau has been found to have broken the Constitution with his unscientific plastics ban,” said Poilievre. “He has failed to provide any evidence this ban would have any benefit for the environment or the health of Canadians.”Furlanetto ruled the “evidence available to the cabinet did not support the finding that all plastic manufactured items are toxic.” The department of environment had acknowledged there was no proof plastics posed a threat to human health.“Not every plastic manufactured item has the potential to create a reasonable apprehension of harm,” wrote the Court. “This is different from examples such as lead and carbon dioxide.”Furlanetto also upheld the intervenors, including the governments of Alberta and Saskatchewan, who contended that the "toxic" blacklisting interfered with waste management, which falls under provincial jurisdiction.“The ubiquity of plastic in society means most businesses and organizations will use plastic manufactured items and will be under provincial jurisdiction,” said the Court.Critics of the blacklisting at the time argued cabinet misapplied the Environmental Protection Act to deal with littering. “You are declaring that something is toxic in order to deal with a recycling and litter problem,” Conservative MP Kerry-Lynne Findlay (South Surrey-White Rock, BC) told a 2020 hearing of the Commons Environment committee.“How do you think declaring plastics as toxic without any further definition that we know of – unless you’re going to give it to us today – will impact the production and availability of plastics in Canada?” asked Findlay. “And how could this impact the cost of living for Canadians?”Five provinces have presented petitions to the cabinet opposing the blacklisting of plastic-manufactured items. As a result, a ban on six common products, including single-use plastic grocery bags, straws, stir sticks, cutlery, six-pack rings, and polystyrene food containers, was set to be fully implemented in 2024. The department of the environment estimated that the transition to pricier alternatives would cost approximately $205 million in the first year.The sales of plastics in Canada amount to approximately $35 billion annually. The department of environment has estimated that about 86% of plastic waste, equivalent to about 3.27 million tonnes each year, is disposed of in landfills, with a significant portion of it being packaging materials.
