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e-1771 (Protection of the environment)

E-petition
Initiated by Denise Markhame from Val des Monts, Quebec

Original language of petition: English

Petition to the Government of Canada

Whereas:
  • An estimated 10 to 20 million tons of plastic end up in the world’s oceans each year, as well as 10,000 tons annually into Canada’s Great Lakes;
  • As of 2014, about 342 million tons of plastic are produced annually, a twenty-fold increase since 1964;
  • At current rates, production is expected to double in the next 20 years and practically quadruple by 2050;
  • A team of international scientists have estimated that there are some 5.25 trillion pieces of “floating” plastic in our oceans (270,000 tons), and another study estimates 15 to 51 trillion particles of plastic pollute our oceans because plastic can take hundreds to thousands of years to break down completely;
  • In addition to leaching toxic chemicals into our eco-system and the oceans that help control our greenhouse gas-emissions, this plastic waste has now worked its way into the food chain;
  • Tawain, Kenya, Rwanda, China, Italy, Great Britain, Scotland, Montreal, New Delhi, Paris, Vancouver and over 1,060 groups globally have mobilized to reduce single-use plastics; and
  • In advance of the “zero plastics waste charter”, an immediate ban on single-use plastic bags would be an appropriate initiative, given their sheer quantity and dispensable nature, and that more economical and eco-friendly options are already offered by most businesses today.
We, the undersigned, citizens of Canada, call upon the Government of Canada to create a ban on the production and distribution of all single-use, disposable plastic bags across Canada.
Open for signature
October 22, 2018, at 11:51 a.m. (EDT)
Closed for signature
February 19, 2019, at 11:51 a.m. (EDT)
Photo - William Amos
Pontiac
Liberal Caucus
Quebec