We urgently appeal our Government to take more drastic measures on plastic. I support the demand for transparency and for the public release of the promised report on plastic packaging. 

The present research on the effect of plastic pollution on our health is disconcerting particularly for our children and their endocrine systems. There are many reports of more plastics in our bodies, urine, feces and blood. Plastics are increasingly in our food, our water, our air and our soil. They are pervasive in our cars, homes, furniture, carpets, toys and countless other products.

The Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME) has been dealing with various aspects of this problem for over 10 years. They committed themselves to develop strategies to a Canadian-Wide Action Plan for Extended Producer Responsibility with updates in 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2019. There was also a report on A Canada-Wide Strategy for sustainable Packaging (32 pp, 2009) which was to include fees, targets, data collection, education, re-cycling and reduction guidelines. Although promised for earlier this year, we still have not seen any concrete results.

The delay makes us wonder about the various ‘stakeholders’ that are mentioned in the reports. There is no transparency or clarity in this regard. If it is anything close to what they did in Europe, then we know that it is the plastic producers and oil companies that are holding up progress by lobbying, protesting, denying, diverting etc. It's time for us to act!