Canada confirms plastics ban, brings forward emissions plan

TORONTO (ICIS)–Canada will go through with plans to ban “harmful” single-use plastics next year, and will act to ensure that more plastic is recycled.

The federal government will also immediately bring forward a plan to exceed Canada’s 2030 climate goal, and it will legislate the goal of net-zero emissions by 2050, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal minority government said in an official “Throne Speech” (government programme) on Wednesday.

Canada’s Paris climate change target is for a 30% reduction in emissions below 2005 levels, by 2030

The ban on single-use plastics, announced last year, will be passed although the coronavirus (Covid-19) health crisis has underlined the sanitary value of many plastics products, especially single-use plastics.

If anything, the need for plastics in healthcare, packaging and other applications should continue to rise, given that parts of Canada, as Trudeau warned, are already experiencing a second wave of the virus that could be even worse than the first.

Highlighting the severity of the health crisis in the country, leaders of the Conservative and Bloc Quebecois parties have both tested positive for the virus and are in isolation.

The Throne Speech included a broad range of measures, including: plans for pharma care; child care; an extension of wage subsidies; addressing shortfalls in the healthcare system the crisis showed up; efforts to secure a virus vaccine; new job creation programmes; support for clean energies, technologies and zero-emission products; help for women, and help for racial minorities and indigenous peoples, among many others measures.

However, there was little detail. This will come in a fiscal update later this autumn, officials said.

Overall, the programme fell well short of the “green recovery” and reset of the economy that Trudeau said was needed in August when he prorogued (suspended) parliament and announced there would be a new Throne Speech to address the challenges posed by the health crisis.

Trade group Chemistry Industry Association of Canada (CIAC), which speaks for both the chemicals and plastics industries, was not immediately available for comment on Thursday morning.

Industry officials have previously said that they are sceptical about broad bans on plastics.

Another worry for the industry is a planned federal Clean Fuel Standards that officials fear could drive up the cost of chemicals and plastics production in Canada.

CONFIDENCE VOTE
The Throne Speech will be subject to a vote of confidence in the lower house, the House of Commons.

If the three main opposition parties vote against the programme, Trudeau’s Liberal government will fall.

While the opposition parties are not keen on an election, Conservative and Bloc Quebecois leaders criticised the Throne Speech and said they will not support the government.

The Conservatives warned of the sharply rising federal debt load and said the new programme did not provide support for the hard-hit oil and gas sector in western Canada.

The left-leaning New Democrats said that they have yet to decide whether to oppose the programme. The party wants the government to reverse recently decided cuts to coronavirus-related financial support for workers, and they want paid sick leave.

Party standings in House of Commons:

Party	Seats
Liberals	154
Conservatives	121
Bloc Quebecois	32
New Democrats	24
Green Party	3
Independents	2
Vacant seats	2
Total	338

Some political commentators said the government had failed to meaningfully address the worsening health crisis with concrete and immediate measures.

Also, the prorogation of parliament and the Throne Speech seemed to be an attempt by Trudeau to move away from a scandal involving a charity which his family and his former finance minister had financial and other ties, some said.

The prorogation shut down parliamentary inquiries into the scandal.

Please also visit the ICIS topic pages
– on coronavirus impacts and the oil price crash;
– on the recession.

Thumbnail image: Canada with embedded flag on planet surface during sunrise; Shutterstock