Canada under Prime Minister Trudeau has once again gone down a path to continue its autocratic streak with its recent announcement that banned all plastic straws and bags.
“We promised to ban harmful single-use plastics, and we’re keeping that promise,” stated Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in a recent Twitter post. “The ban on the making and importing of plastic bags, cutlery, straws and other items comes into effect in December 2022 — and selling these items is prohibited as of December 2023.”
This ban goes so far to include all plastic checkout bags, cutlery, stir sticks, and straws, but does give “som exceptions,” as stated in a recent press release, which highlights that the provision will stop an estimated 1.3 million tonnes of waste plastic from being created over the next ten years.
“By the end of the year, you won’t be able to manufacture or import these harmful plastics,” stated Steven Guilbeault, the Minister of Environment and Climate Change. “After that, businesses will begin offering the sustainable solutions Canadians want, whether that’s paper straws or reusable bags. With these new regulations, we’re taking a historic step forward in reducing plastic pollution, and keeping our communities and the places we love clean.”
Similar bills have been set up in the United States as well. San Francisco banned plastic straws and cutlery back in 2019, while Philadelphia just recently set in place a ban on plastic bags earlier this year.
“It’s a movement not just happening in San Francisco but nationally and internationally,” stated the spokesman for San Francisco’s Department of Environment, Peter Gallotta, back in 2018. “The larger elephant in the room is the single-use disposable culture we find ourselves in, and straws are the epitome of this unnecessary daily waste.”
Recently, however, Canada managed to garner quite a bit of criticism for its announcement of a “national freeze” on all handgun ownership, an event which took place in the wake of a gunman storming an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas resulting in the deaths of 21 people. “What this means is that it will no longer be possible to buy, sell, transfer or import handguns anywhere in Canada. In other words, we’re capping the market for handguns,” claimed Trudeau.
Just a few months ago, Trudeau also made use of his emergency powers to try and discourage various participants and organizers from taking part in the Freedom Convoy protests, a movement in which citizens and truckers who stood opposed to the public health restrictions and the vaccine mandates in Canada. Among the actions taken included the Canadian government setting no-go zones and freezing all the assets and accounts of the truckers taking part.
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