TORONTO – Plastic bags are again the centre of attention at Toronto’s city hall.
The city’s Public Works and Infrastructure Committee reviewed a report recommending a city-wide education campaign telling Torontonians that reusable bags are a better option.
The report also suggests the campaign – at a cost of between $300,000 and $400,000 – promote the reuse of plastic bags before they’re thrown out.
The Public Works Committee voted to accept the city’s staff report on Wednesday.
“I think Torontonians would like to see an end to this debate,” Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong said to reporters at city hall Wednesday. “We’ve done this before. I don’t want to waste more of the council’s time. I’ve heard from many people that they want to move on. We’ve got significant things to deal with, and this keeps on coming up like a bad penny.”
Mayor Rob Ford said at a press conference that he hopes Wednesday’s vote will put a “final nail in the coffin” of the plastic bag fee.
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“Torontonians pay enough in taxes, they don’t need to be nickel and dimed every time they go to the store to buy groceries or something they need,” the mayor said. “Today, I cast my vote as mayor at the public works and infrastructure committee to make sure we put the final nail in the coffin of this plastic bag fee once and for all.”
Plastic bags have long been a source of controversy at Toronto’s city hall.
In 2008, council voted to introduce a 5-cent fee on plastic bags at stores around Toronto.
That bylaw went largely unchallenged until Rob Ford’s term as mayor began. In May 2012 his executive committee voted to end the bag fee.
That June, a slim majority (24-20) of council voted to get rid of plastic bags altogether by the beginning of 2013.
The mayor came out strongly against the ban at the time, calling it “the dumbest thing that council’s done.”
He added that the ban was “the people’s fault” because the general population wasn’t involved enough in municipal politics.
Council voted in October not to reopen the debate. But the next month, faced with possible legal action by the convenience store association, they cancelled the bag ban.
Today, the mayor made a rare appearance on the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee to vote on the issue.
“I support the chair, and obviously this is an important issue for the taxpayers,” he said.
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