Judge rules against a key part of Ottawa’s single-use plastics ban

Federal court judge has knocked down a key part of the government’s single-use Plastics ban as unreasonable and unconstitutional Justin shudo has been found to have broken the Constitution uh with his unscientific Plastics ban very surprised by by by the the the reaction of uh of of the federal court uh because it goes

Against um what what the Canadian public is asking us it’s go it goes against what we’ve seen municipalities uh across the country started started doing and it goes against what what science is telling us about the impacts of plastics on on our on environment but also on

Human health okay I’m not sure they broke the Constitution but Minister Gilbo says the government will very likely appeal the decision but where has this latest blow left the Liberals Environmental Policy the power panel is back on that Susan Marie neon and Emily nigon you know the plastic ban uh

Probably going to the Supreme Court there was the setback on the impact assessment agency the carve out on home heating oil and and a fraying if you look at public opinion of where people are on a lot of the Liberals uh climate policy and the consensus was pretty

Solid just a few years ago where are they right now uh well I mean the fact is people who are debating whether climate change exists are carrying some of the measure of the day and that’s where some of the doubt comes in and you know the challenge with this decision around

Constitutionality uh really gets to the heart of whether the government can impose what is ultimately a provincial uh legislation because it’s it’s provincial legislation when it comes to environment or natural resources and the real debate is around toxicity around plastic but that’s a pretty closed issue after the UN meeting on Plastics last

Year in June I I mean I don’t know where people are coming from when they talk about science I mean the world scientists have talked about the fact that single use Plastics are a problem they are toxic and they don’t uh break down over years and and affect humans

Just in the way in which Water Works the way in which ecology works or the way that which the air Works um but you know the real Pro the real little bit about this this decision is that the judge wasn’t able to turn over S5 uh the

Single-use Plastics or the right to the environment bill that the LI the trudo Liberals passed and that’s really interesting because the fact that you can’t really uh the big ticket part of that bill is that people have a right to a uh environmental consideration it’s a

Human right and so the fact that that the judge wasn’t able to turn that down I think that would be a bigger is for the Constitution than deciding who can decide whether single-use Plastics exist right so Marie this is happening uh you know there is a setback in the impact

Agency you see people like Daniel Smith claiming Victory because you know I think it was former Premier Jason Kenny who was who was part of a lot of these challenges and now you got polls saying 70% of Canadians say the carbon tax should be taken off all home heating um

The Liberals are really up against it on a signature core value for them I think it’s the accumulation of these rulings well and the carve out in the carbon tax which they didn’t help themselves with that one um but their targeted rulings right so on on c69 on um environmental

Impact evaluation it’s a section of the bill it was a decision not a ruling um right of of the designated list of projects that um the federal government can’t necessarily impose his impact evaluation environmental impact sorry I’m thinking about it in French um on plastics it’s that the list was too

Broad it’s not saying that they can’t ban plastic at all or to neon’s point that S5 is invalid but it still weakens the environmental framework by sort of chipping at it bit by bit to your point it doesn’t really help the public have confidence that either it is

Constitutional or effective or the right way to do it um and it also emboldens Province like Saskatchewan who has decided with a bill that they will not collect the carbon tax on natural gas anymore Min on last night yeah um or Alberta who is saying we’re really happy

About this plastic span ruling uh it emboldens provinces to keep resisting and I think the government because of this resistance political and or um of of U active not act sorry Industries because of this resistance the government has sort of tried to force climate action with banning plastic c69

Um the carbon tax which by the way that one was deemed constitutional and by trying to force this action the government has sometimes been you’re going too far so I think they’re sort of trying to figure out how how they can Force action but the fact that it keeps

Being a little bit in each case um struck down or criticized by the courts is is is is not helping the framework stay intact but but but Susan now as they sort of regroup and reset and push ahead to try to salvage uh something they still believe in I mean the rage

Around the end of plastic straws that was out there in the end of plastic bags um these things are easier to do from a position of political strength early in a mandate and they’re not in that kind of a situation any longer yeah that it

Goes to the point I was making sort of earlier is this is one of those ones there’s a lot of stuff that they’re doing on climate that is way above people’s heads and they don’t understand and you know it doesn’t touch them you know how how can a Canadian affect an

Emissions Target but they can you know they see in their hands the plastic bags and and the straws so so uh for all the people who protested against there were a lot of people who were happy that this was going on too be said that this is

Something concrete that we can doely um I think it Maria is right it’s the cumulative effect of all of this it’s the idea that I I like that the two words that were chosen in in the ruling uncons unreasonable and unconstitutional you go to the unreasonable part this is

A government that kept kept saying it science on its side and this court said science is not in your side you know and then on the unconstitutional it’s fitting with I saw the interview last night with with the Saskatchewan Minister too willing to go to jail I

Guess if uh yeah that that’s that that’s a whole other thing I I don’t know how they can change the federal law I don’t either but it’s of a theme we are seeing now which is we’re going to do what we want and it’s it’s coming close to not

Acknowledging the government’s right to govern um the federal government you know that the you know whether it’s they have no right to come in and do housing announcements you know all of this is the same song from the provinces I’d say it’s already there not recognize the

Government’s right to govern right so so Marie sorry Emily excuse me um they they a lot of the provinces who are fighting back on on the policies the government is trying to do point to Quebec and say don’t sign deals with our cities to do housing we want a deal like Quebec which

Also matched the money dollar for dollar which the other provinces have not yet done uh but but they’re also uh fighting them now on on climate policy and Pier POV says he wants the next election to be a carbon tax election um is there enough to sustain that sort of attitude

Between now and 2025 and how would that play in a province like Quebec uh where attitudes on on climate are are sharply different than they are saying the conservative power base of Alberta and saskat uh to the Quebec part of your question uh it really goes uh above our

Head right now the carbon tax uh we you know we have our own right uh the plastic band is something that you know has been done by our local elected officials as well we didn’t wait for federal law to to act on that um and uh the Environmental Policy piece is very

Much understood here as something that is a provential matter and that the rest of Canada is backward on is you know the common understanding of it regardless of not that’s fair uh and so uh that’s not a way for PF to be heard here um generally speaking however uh in terms

Of your other the other part of the question is that the script that PV can can rely on between now and 2025 there’s so many things that can happen between now and 2025 I’m not sure that’s the that’s we can predict that what we can predict though is that this uh this idea

That you know Canada’s broken and that the the federal government is not doing what it’s supposed to do that it’s stifling people’s rights that’s the broader narrative that they’re at and as Susan was saying it’s about the environment it’s about uh housing it’s about pretty much everything son uh

Because it’s such a general line that it can be applied onto any issue and so uh if they stay with that message then any kind of things that pops up they can just be you know so I think that’s more the umbrella message that that that that

Is likely to stick around yeah nean it’s a very versatile message right especially when you have premiers who would like you to be the Prime Minister who are willing to take up that fight at their level and create tension with with the federal government I just want to address one

Thing I was just talked about just a minute ago in terms of the science I mean I mean I encourage anybody please look go to the Plastics Forum at the United Nations June 8th to 10th last year June 2022 I mean single-use Plastics the science is all there um and

Of course while the bill that the government is is proposing Perhaps Perhaps wasn’t overstretch um it’s something that is trying to deal with a issue that’s happening nationally and the fact is that the provinces aren’t doing it and why would they be trusted I mean when you offer funding to provinces

Or incentives to provinces to be able to address an issue such as this around either Plastics or the environment or even housing um then suddenly they take the money that they’re offered and then fire checks out to their individual uh constituents and and why would you trust provinces because even when Justin

Trudeau was on the side of the provinces I mean have we all forgotten that he bought a pipeline and whole environmentalist Happ I mean have we forgotten that Justin Trudeau on one side was thought as the enemy of the environment only at the very beginning I mean six seven eight

Years ago before the pandemic anyways which feels so long ago but that Justin Trudeau was on the side of Industry particularly in Alberta and uh in the issue of pipelines and trying to get the economy moving when it came to natural resources and so on and so forth I mean

So it’s really just damned if you damned if you don’t and we’re certainly in an environment with full of ranker but I just don’t think the provinces have any right to be trusted uh when you keep offering them incentives and they just send checks to their individual constituents or tax

Breaks or so on right I I would say the the record of the government is mixed on pipelines if you’re an advocate for pipelines like yes on TMX but then like Northern Gateway and these other things uh but but to Nan’s points on provinces like Marie here in Ontario the the for

Government very critical of carbon pricing complaining about the the hardship it’s putting on people they scrap the cap and trade system that exists in Emily’s Quebec right now where they’re tied in with the California markets where there would have been none of this I mean there will be in a few

Years I think kebec will be looped into the federal tax at some point because it’s not we won’t eternally necessarily be matching the federal system but yes this would not be a problem for Doug Ford had had they not exited the the the B I forget how it’s called in English

What my English the cap and trade your English is better than my French that if they had not exited the cap in trade but to your point also on um how does this I guess to rephrase your question how does this help going into the election or is this a

Good um is talking point yeah I think it’s also a question of if it’s if it’s framed as a question of cost and that’s how he’s framed the carbon tax and I think that’s why you see those um poll numbers I think that is um yes efficient

And that yes could help them and hurt the Liberals I don’t know that plastic fits in that so much I mean it’s it’s a cost for industries of course to to reneg uh plastic but it I don’t know if it’s a cost to people to buy a a metal straw

I’m from Quebec and like IM I see this opposition to Banning Plastics and I’m a little confused I’m not going back to plastic bags I got got enough but I think if they if they leave it as a cost issue and the economy stays as it is um

Yeah it definitely is is a problem for the Liberals all right Susan we’re just about out of time quick final thoughts from you about 20 seconds you the Liberals are saying you know maybe bravado they want a carbon tax elction they’d be very happy with one so we

We’ll see where things are in a year or two years from now but they believe they’ve won on that issue before and they can do it again all right well skeptical but we’ll talk about another deck all right we’ll see you on that one maybe we’ll talk about that next Friday

All right gang have a great weekend thanks to the Friday power panel Emily Nicola nean Sinclair Marie vastel and Susan delor thanks gang

A Federal Court judge has ruled that a Liberal government decision to list plastic items as toxic was ‘unreasonable and unconstitutional.’ The Power Panel discusses where this ruling leaves the Trudeau government’s environmental policy.

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