Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is promising to end the federal single-use plastic ban on items like straws and grocery bags if his party is elected.
Poilievre campaigned in Montreal Friday morning, as he and other federal leaders returned to the campaign trail following the two national leaders’ debates Wednesday and Thursday.
Liberal Leader Mark Carney is campaigning in Hamilton later in the day, while NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is also holding an event in Quebec.
Poilievre says he would repeal the bans the Liberals implemented on plastics including grocery bags, cutlery.
He would also end Liberal plans to standardize plastic packaging and labelling to make it easier to recycle, referring to it as a “plastic tax” on food packaging.
The previous Liberal government banned six single-use plastic items in 2022 after designating plastic manufactured items as toxic under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act.
A Federal Court quashed that designation in November 2023 saying it was too broad to say all manufactured plastic is toxic but the ban remains in place pending an appeal.
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The Liberals began implementing a plan to require up to 60 per cent of food packaging be made from recycled plastic by 2030.
They were looking to increase how much plastic gets recycled in Canada with studies suggesting as much as 90 per cent of plastic waste ends up in landfills.
Poilievre claims the plastic ban will cost the economy $1.3 billion over the next decade, and the average family $400 annually.
The Liberals have promised “zero plastic waste” by 2030, arguing that only nine per cent of plastic used by Canadians ends up being recycled.
The NDP has also called for a ban on single-use plastics, but added that their push “would exclude products needed for people with disabilities – including straws – as well as medical supplies.”
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