Court Tells Trudeau To Suck It

“We have recently switched to drinking water bottles out of … water, when we have water bottles … out of a plastic … sorry … away from plastic towards paper … like drink-box, water-bottle sorta things.”

-Justin Trudeau

It’s another defeat for the Trudeau Liberals in the courts. 

The latest policy to get tossed in the trash is their single-use plastics ban, as yesterday the Federal Court ruled the ban unconstitutional

This is a massive win for all Albertans. 

On July 13th, we launched a petition opposing this ridiculous law.

The government claimed the ban would reduce the plastic waste in our oceans, but our stance from the beginning was that it would never achieve this objective. 

After all, less than 1% of plastic waste comes from Canada.

Even the government's own report indicated that the ban would not reduce overall waste but instead shift it to other forms.

Other studies showed that non-plastic bags had negative environmental impacts, particularly in terms of emissions as they require more energy to produce and are heavier to transport.

And, single-use plastics are not truly “single-use” - they are often reused around the house.

This victory in the Federal Court not only proves that our concerns were legitimate, but also sends a powerful message that public opinion matters.

The court of public opinion, despite claims to the contrary, clearly does hold sway.

And now, we’ll be holding straws again!

Our tireless efforts to highlight just how ridiculous - and unpopular - it was to ban plastic bags and straws clearly played a role in this outcome. 

But, our work is far from over. 

There are still municipalities that passed bans of their own, some even more stringent than the federal one!

So, if you appreciate our work on this issue so far, and want to help us continue, please lend a hand here: 

We are already in touch with our friends at Common Sense Calgary and Common Sense Edmonton, and our next step involves working together to repeal the single-use plastic bans in their cities.

Trudeau can keep his drink-box water-bottle sorta things - the rest of us will celebrate by sipping from a sturdy straw!

Regards,

Peter McCaffrey
President
Alberta Institute

P.S. We're grateful for your ongoing support in our fight against impractical environmental policies that, at best, inconvenience, and at worse, financially harm, Albertans. To help us in our work, please consider contributing today!