Canada plastics ban ‘a step backward’, says top chemical industry executive

Stefan Baumgarten

25-Sep-2020

TORONTO (ICIS)–The Canadian federal government’s intention to put in place a ban on single-use plastics next year is “a step backwards”, a top chemical industry executive told ICIS in an interview.

In a Throne Speech this week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Liberal-led minority government explicitly reiterated the ban – at a time when the coronavirus crisis has underlined the sanitary value of plastics, and as Canada and other countries are bracing for the virus’ second wave.

Isabelle Des Chenes, executive vice president of trade group Chemistry Industry Association of Canada (CIAC), said that the planned ban is “a step backwards in the fight against plastic waste”.

Rather than going ahead with the ban and pursuing a go-it-alone policy, Canada should “reimagine” recycling and repurposing of plastics in collaboration with the provinces, she said.

What Canada needed was a “purposeful circular economy legislation” that sets recycled content standards, national performance requirements, extended producer responsibility, and defines the life-cycle assessment of products, Des Chenes said.

“Scientifically sound and smart solutions” to address plastic waste would create thousands of jobs, help Canada overcome the coronavirus downturn, and usher in a next wave of economic prosperity – all while safeguarding critical resources, she said.

The Throne Speech included a reference to increasing plastics recycling, but provided no details.

PUT FOCUS ON RECOVERY
Des Chenes also noted that the Throne Speech included plans to reform the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA).

While certain aspects of the act, which first became law in 1988, needed reform and updating, at this time of crisis the government should rather focus its resources on overcoming the health crisis and on the economic downturn, she said.

“CIAC believes that all new legislation should be focused on getting Canadians back to work,” she said.

The existing act was already “a global gold standard” for a risk-based approach to regulating chemicals, and that approach needed to be preserved, she added.

Another concern are plans for a Clean Fuel Standard, which would lead to double taxation and thus higher costs for Canada-based chemicals and plastics production, she noted.

Again, in the current crisis the government’s focus should be on the health crisis and the economic recovery, while pausing other initiatives like the fuels standard, she said.

POSITIVES
Des Chenes also underlined a number of positives in the new government programme – not only for the chemical and plastics industries but for the whole country.

For one thing, plans to legislate the goal of net-zero emissions by 2050 was “excellent”, and the chemical industry, with its technologies and products, would play a key role in helping achieve that goal, she said.

“A lot of the innovations and solutions [the chemical industry] has can really help drive a low-carbon and zero-emission economy”, she said.

Another positive is reference in the Throne Speech to government support for the growing electric vehicle (EV) sector, which was a “very exciting opportunity” for Canada’s chemicals industry as well, she said.

In fact, the chemistry involved in EV batteries was a good example of chemical solutions being instrumental in helping Canada achieve net-zero emissions, she said.

Furthermore, CIAC supports the government’s plans to address systemic racism and increasing diversity in Canada, to promote reconciliation with indigenous peoples, and to bring more women back into the workforce, she said.

“Those are initiatives that are critically important and should be the focus of all government,” she said.

The rail blockades earlier this year, which hit chemical industry logistics, were a reminder of Canada’s often tense relations with indigenous peoples.

Overall, from the chemical industry’s perspective there were no real surprises in the Throne Speech, which seemed to have revived programmes and ideas the Trudeau government has been talking about since it was first elected in 2015, she noted.

CONFIDENCE VOTE
Trudeau’s Liberal government was re-elected last October but lost its majority in parliament.

The Throne Speech will be subject to a vote of confidence in the House of Commons, where Trudeau’s Liberals have only 154 of the 338 seats.

As such, if the three main opposition parties vote against the programme, the government will fall, triggering a new election.

While the opposition parties are not keen on an election during the crisis, and less than a year after last year’s vote, the Conservatives and the Bloc Quebecois are set to vote again on the speech.

However, most political commentators predict that the left-leaning New Democrats, with 24 seats, will support the programme and thus ensure the government’s survival, for the time being.

Some commentators said in the Throne Speech the government missed an opportunity to meaningfully address the worsening health crisis with concrete and immediate measures.

Also, Trudeau’s prorogation of parliament and the Throne Speech seemed to be an attempt to move away from a scandal involving a charity with 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: Isabelle Des Chenes, executive vice president of trade group Chemistry Industry Association of Canada (CIAC)

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