Canadian city set to ban plastic bags for the third time
Digital Reporter
Wednesday, November 15, 2017, 1:23 PM - It sounds simple in theory, but banning single-use plastic bags is apparently really difficult to pull off in practice.
The council of the city of St. John's, N.L., voted unanimously on Tuesday night to ban the bags, and not for the first time.
"I believe this is probably the third time I've voted on this," Mayor Danny Breen told CBC News. "I really don't want to vote on this a fourth time."
It's still not the end of that particular fight, as CBC explains the power to actually ditch the bags rests with the provincial government, which has not acted on previous motions put forward by St. John's, where about one fifth of the Newfoundland and Labrador population lives.
The broadcaster reports the province, the ninth-most populous in Canada, uses around 100 million single-use bags yearly, or around 200 per resident.
It's not the only jurisdiction in Canada that is struggling to put the bags in the past. In 2012, Toronto city council voted to ban the bags beginning on Jan. 1 the following year, but later backed out of the ban before it could take effect.
More successfully (so far), the city of Montreal voted in 2016 to ban the bags, but with the ban only taking effect in 2018.
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SOURCE: CBC News | Toronto Star | Montreal Gazette | Thumbnail image licence
