43rd Parliament291Not answered before dissolutionAugust 15, 2021e-3292e-3292 (Environment)MichaelGillanKyleSeebackDufferin—CaledonConservativeONMarch 31, 2021, at 10:05 a.m. (EDT)April 30, 2021, at 10:05 a.m. (EDT)June 21, 2021May 3, 2021Petition to the <Addressee type="3" affiliationId="" mp-riding-display="1">Government of Canada</Addressee>Whereas:Washer fluid jugs contribute upwards of 70 million unrecyclable cartons of plastic waste to Canadian landfills every year;Due to the methanol, these cartons are too costly to recycle and are subsequently thrown away; andThere are readily available alternatives to this, as this form of plastic packaging is no longer needed. We, the undersigned, Citizens of Canada, call upon the Government of Canada to: 1. Invest in technologies that offer alternatives to plastic packaging used for washer fluid jugs; and2. Add plastic packaging to the growing list of banned single use plastics. Containers, packages and parcelsEnvironmentally friendly productsPlasticsPollution43rd Parliament289Closed upon dissolutionAugust 15, 2021e-3549e-3549 (Business and trade)VesoSobotChrisLewisEssexConservativeONJuly 12, 2021, at 4:53 p.m. (EDT)November 9, 2021, at 4:53 p.m. (EDT)Petition to the <Addressee type="3" affiliationId="" mp-riding-display="1">Government of Canada</Addressee>Whereas:COVID-19 has made clear we need plastics more than ever;Plastics save lives in hospitals every day when used in protective face masks, shields, gowns, oxygen masks and easy to clean surfaces;Plastics have saved millions of people in Canada and around the world from COVID-19;Plastics are ubiquitous in Canadian homes, they are used in TV's, sound systems, cell phones, appliances, siding, fencing decking and piping;Plastics are essential in planes, trains, automobiles, ships, satellites and space stations;Canada exports plastics products worldwide contributing significantly to Canadian prosperity; andCanadian plastic products are environmentally responsible and often have the lowest carbon footprint when compared to alternatives.We, the undersigned, citizens and residents of Canada, call upon the Government of Canada to:1. End its unfounded attacks on plastic products; and 2. Empower and support the 100,000 men and women in the industry that create $35 billion worth of versatile products yearly in an environmentally responsible manner.PlasticsPlastics industry43rd Parliament289Closed upon dissolutionAugust 15, 2021e-2958e-2958 (Environment)MichaelPrideHon.MichaelChongWellington—Halton HillsConservativeONNovember 5, 2020, at 4:19 p.m. (EDT)March 5, 2021, at 4:19 p.m. (EDT)March 8, 2021Petition to the <Addressee type="3" affiliationId="" mp-riding-display="1">Government of Canada</Addressee>Whereas:The Liberal Government campaigned on a promise to ban some single use plastics; By declaring plastic as a toxic substance, they have taken a bold step in the fight against our addiction to plastic; We applaud these measures; however, they do not go far enough;The energy needed to make bottled water is up to 2000 times the energy needed for the equivalent volume of tap water; It takes more water to create the plastic bottle than the water bottle will actually hold. (Gleick, P.H. and Cooley, H.S. “Energy implications of bottled water.” (Environmental Research Letters 4 (2009)) ;Water bottlers have zero responsibility when it comes to the waste their bottles create;Every human is ingesting nearly 2000 particles of plastic a week, five grams of plastics, the equivalent of one plastic credit card; More than half the plastic on Earth has been created since 2002, and it’s on pace to double by 2030 (Planet Plastic, Rolling Stone, March 3,2020); A landmark study in the journal Science Advances found that 91% of the 6.3 trillion kilograms of plastic waste has never been recycled, not even once; Unlike aluminum, which can be recycled again and again, plastic degrades in reprocessing; Recycling has a limited value and we cannot rely on it as a solution; andIn Ontario alone, one billion plastic water bottles are sent to landfill every year (Environmental Defence).We, the undersigned, Citizens of Canada, call upon the Government of Canada to include plastic water bottles on the list of single use plastics that need to be phased out permanently in 2021.BanBottled water and water bottlesPlastics43rd Parliament229Not certifiedJuly 22, 2021e-3258e-3258 (Environment)DerekMartellDonDaviesVancouver KingswayNDPBCMarch 23, 2021, at 11:28 a.m. (EDT)July 21, 2021, at 11:28 a.m. (EDT)July 22, 2021Petition to the <Addressee type="3" affiliationId="" mp-riding-display="1">Government of Canada</Addressee>Whereas:Cigarette butts are the most common category of small litter in Canada;Cigarette butts are more harmful to the environment than other small litter because they are made up of hundreds of toxic chemicals;Many Canadians have looked into this problem and have attempted to ban cigarette butts as a single-use plastic, but the ban was turned down because there are no viable alternatives to plastic cigarette filters; andFinding a viable alternative to plastic cigarette filters would therefore reduce the amount of toxic chemicals that leach into the ground from cigarette litter.We, the undersigned, citizens and residents of Canada, call upon the Government of Canada to apply a nationwide fee of $1 per pack of cigarettes to be used as funding for further research into finding a viable alternative to plastic cigarette filters.PlasticsPollutionTobacco products43rd Parliament229Not certifiedNovember 6, 2020e-2460e-2460 (Environment)MichaelWegnerLaurelCollinsVictoriaNDPBCJuly 8, 2020, at 5:39 p.m. (EDT)November 5, 2020, at 5:39 p.m. (EDT)November 6, 2020Petition to the <Addressee type="2" affiliationId="" mp-riding-display="1">House of Commons in Parliament assembled</Addressee>Whereas:Canada sells twenty-seven billion cigarettes annually;Tobacco pollution is the number one form of litter contaminating our eco-systems; Cigarette butts are a plastic product that significantly contributes to pollution in soil, waterways and beaches, and impacts the health of fish and other wildlife, as well as the safety of the food supply for humans;Plastic cigar tips, commonly sold and used with cigarillos and small cigars, are also among the most littered objects;We have Deposit/Return and Environmental Handling Fee models already in practice;There is already a processor that is recycling cigarette butts and cigar tips;An Environmental Handling Fee on tobacco products will create jobs and generate one billion dollars of revenue; andEfforts to prevent litter of cigarette filters by educating consumers have failed.We, the undersigned, citizens and residents of Canada, call upon the House of Commons in Parliament assembled to: 1. Ban the sale of cigarettes, cigars, cigarette tubes and other tobacco products that contain single use plastics.2. Apply a minimum Environment Handling Fee of $.05 per cigarette, cigar, cigarette tube and other tobacco products to be used for supporting the infrastructure for cigarette butt, vape pod and cigar tip recycling;3. Apply a minimum fee of $.05 per cigarette or cigar or cigarette tube to be used as a Refundable Deposit on vape pods, cigarette filters and cigar tips.PlasticsPollutionTobacco products43rd Parliament223Government response tabledJuly 20, 2020e-2389e-2389 (Environment)SarahWhitesidePaulManlyNanaimo—LadysmithGreen PartyBCJanuary 23, 2020, at 2:31 p.m. (EDT)May 22, 2020, at 2:31 p.m. (EDT)June 2, 2020July 20, 2020May 25, 2020Petition to the <Addressee type="2" affiliationId="" mp-riding-display="1">House of Commons in Parliament assembled</Addressee>Whereas:Our environment is being heavily polluted with plastic, and this not only has major impacts on aquatic life, but also on human health, and it is estimated that 74,000 to 121,000 microplastic particles are ingested per person every year;A recent study carried out by Ocean Wise Conservation Association has shown that during each washing cycle 120,000 to 730,000 microfibers are shed from the clothes and go directly into waste water, and many of these microfibers are synthetic and therefore microplastics;Annual estimates of synthetic microfiber pollution generated by home laundry and discharged into our environment are staggering, namely one quadrillion or 250 tonnes of untreated microfiber pollution directly released into the environment or septic systems, five quadrillion or 1,300 tonnes of microfibers retained by waste water treatment facilities, and 0.26 quadrillion or 67 tonnes of household microfiber pollution released into the aquatic environment after waste water treatment; andWashing machine discharge filters are currently available on the market and greatly reduce the amount of microfibers being released into waste water and thus the environment.We, the undersigned, residents of Canada, call upon the House of Commons in Parliament assembled to: 1. Legislate the requirement of all new washing machines to have discharge filters as of 2021; and 2. Provide incentives to all residents of Canada to install discharge filters on current washing machines.
Response by the Minister of Environment and Climate ChangeSigned by (Minister or Parliamentary Secretary): The Honourable JONATHAN WILKINSONThe Government of Canada recognizes that addressing plastics pollution in and around the aquatic environment is a pressing global environmental issue that requires action at all levels of government, by industry and the public.Canada led actions on this issue during its G7 Presidency in 2018, including the development of the Ocean Plastics Charter, the G7 Innovation Challenge and international investments to support related work in developing countries. At home, the Government of Canada has adopted a comprehensive approach to meet its target of zero plastic waste by 2030.  The government of Canada is working with provinces, territories, and all stakeholders to implement this agenda to keep plastic in the economy and out of the environment.An important milestone in the approach was the February 2020 publication of the Draft Science assessment on Plastic Pollution, https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/evaluating-existing-substances/draft-science-assessment-plastic-pollution.html, which summarizes the current state of the science regarding the impacts of plastic pollution on the environment and human health in order to guide future research and inform decision-making. The assessment recommended action to reduce plastics that end up in the environment, including microfibers, the most abundant type of microplastics found in water globally. Research is increasingly pointing to home laundry as one important source of microfiber pollution. The assessment also recommended more research to understand the potential impacts of microplastics to human health and the environment and that action be taken to reduce macro and microplastics that end up in the environment.  The government is currently considering all available scientific information, following international and domestic research on microfibers, looking to address knowledge gaps, and working to identify appropriate policies and risk management actions, where supported by scientific evidence and where warranted. A number of early actions have already been taken, including:
  • support for the Ocean Wise Conservation Association to support the Microfiber Partnership, a solution-oriented and multi-disciplinary research initiative aimed at developing standard protocols to better characterize the fate of microfibers from home and commercial laundering activities; 
The Government is committed to ongoing engagement with stakeholders to address microplastic pollution in the aquatic environment.  
Electric household appliancesPlasticsWater quality