Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday that he wants to ban single-use plastics by 2021 and told reporters how he is personally committed to that objective.
The ban could include the ubiquitous plastic grocery bags that have become a staple of modern society and could also encompass such items as beverage stir sticks, and even cotton swabs, CBC News reported Monday.
U.S. President Donald Trump shake hand with Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as they attend the USMCA signing ceremony together with Mexico’s President Enrique Pena Nieto before the G20 leaders summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina November 30, 2018. REUTERS/Andres Stapff
“We need to cover all of Canada with this decision and that’s why the federal government is moving forward on a science-based approach to establishing which harmful single-use plastics we will be eliminating as of 2021,” Trudeau said, according to CBC. (RELATED: Trudeau Apologizes For Mocking First Nations Protest: ‘Thank You For Your Donation’)
He made the announcement during a news conference at a nature reserve outside of Montreal where Trudeau was asked, “What do you and your family do to cut back on plastics?” The prime minister’s answer to the question baffled the Official Opposition Conservatives and went viral on social media Monday night.
“We have recently switched to drinking water bottles out of water out of — when we have water bottles out of a plastic … sorry away from plastic, towards paper … like drink box water bottles sort of thing.”
Conservative Calgary Member of Parliament Michelle Rempel posted the video on her Twitter page with the comment: “Please tell me this is a fake video. It can’t be real.”
Please tell me this is a fake video. It can’t be real. pic.twitter.com/IvynwHMmaq
— Michelle Rempel (@MichelleRempel) June 10, 2019
Conservative Immigration Critic Michelle Rempel discusses Canada’s border crisis in a YouTube recording. YouTube screenshot, Sept. 24, 2018.
Rempel raised the issue in the House of Commons later that day in the regular afternoon Question Period.
Trudeau was asked what his family was going to do to protect the environment. His response was crazy (see above video in tweet thread). I raised it in the House, with a full transcription: pic.twitter.com/ZupUvRSrxC
— Michelle Rempel (@MichelleRempel) June 10, 2019
Trudeau said the full list of items banned under the plastic purge will not be known until further research is completed, but he said Canada will follow the same formula as the European Union, which banned plastic knives, forks and plates last March. (RELATED: Trudeau Worries About ‘Impacts’ Of ‘Male Construction Workers’ On ‘Gender Lens’)
The prime minister also said he wants to make companies that make or sell plastics responsible for recycling the used products.
“Whether we’re talking about plastic bottles or cellphones, it will be up to businesses to take responsibility for the plastics they’re manufacturing and putting out into the world,” Trudeau told reporters.
The Trudeau government has recently resolved a long-standing environmental dispute with the Philippines, contracting a ship to return 1,500 tonnes of Canadian garbage that a recycling firm had sent overseas.