Bill C-204 (Historical)

An Act to amend the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (final disposal of plastic waste)

This enactment amends the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 to prohibit the export of certain types of plastic waste to foreign countries for final disposal.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Give me a second. We're going to go slowly today, since this is our first experience with clause-by-clause.

First of all, Mr. Longfield's motion relates to Bill C-204. It also relates to clause-by-clause in the sense that he wishes to delay clause-by-clause. I have to consider the motion in order.

Ms. Collins.

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

There are letters from the chief executive officer of Ontario Waste Management Association; the president of Waste Management Association of B.C.; the sustainability manager of Ice River Sustainable Solutions from Shelburne, Ontario; the director of Rundel Eco Services out of Calgary; and of course the president and CEO of the Association of Plastic Recyclers.

These are important stakeholders we haven't heard from. Three of the letters have been translated for our consideration, and Bill C-204 is generating a lot of interest from industry that we haven't heard from.

We've had only three of these letters translated, Mr. Chair, so I'd like to move that we defer consideration of Bill C-204 to consider these submissions; that the remaining submissions be translated and distributed to members; that we have the steering committee consider whether some of these individuals should be asked to appear as witnesses; and that the steering committee report back to the committee on its recommendations.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

I call the meeting to order.

Welcome, Mr. Viersen, to the environment committee. I hope you enjoy your experience here.

Welcome to the 22nd meeting of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development. Pursuant to the order of reference of Wednesday, February 3, 2021, and the motion adopted by the committee on February 17, 2021, the committee is resuming its study of Bill C-204, an act to amend the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999, regarding the final disposal of plastic waste.

We have government officials with us here today as requested. They will be here to answer questions during the clause-by-clause.

As the name indicates, this is an examination of the clauses in the order in which they appear in the bill. I will call each clause successively, and each clause is subject to debate and a vote. If there are amendments to the clause in question, I will recognize the member proposing the amendment, who may then explain the amendment. The amendment will then be open for debate. When no further members wish to intervene, the amendment will be voted on. Amendments will be considered in the order in which they appear in the bill or in the package each member received from the clerk. Members should note that amendments must be submitted in writing to the clerk of the committee, or by email for members participating virtually.

Since this is the committee's first clause-by-clause consideration of a bill in a hybrid meeting format, the chair will go slowly to allow members to follow the proceedings properly. Amendments have been given an alphanumeric number in the top right-hand corner to indicate which party submitted them. There's no need for a seconder to move an amendment. Once an amendment is moved, you will need unanimous consent to withdraw the amendment.

During the debate on an amendment, members are permitted to move subamendments. These subamendments must be submitted in writing or by email for members participating virtually. They do not require the approval of the mover of the amendment. Only one subamendment may be considered at a time, and that subamendment may not be amended. When a subamendment to an amendment is moved, it is voted on first. Then another subamendment may be moved or the committee may consider the main amendment and vote on it.

Once every clause has been voted on, the committee will vote on the title and the bill itself, and an order to reprint the bill may be required if amendments are adopted so that the House has a proper copy for use at report stage.

Finally, the committee will have to order the chair to report the bill to the House. That report contains only the text of any adopted amendments as well as an indication of any deleted clauses.

I thank the members for their attention and wish everyone a productive clause-by-clause consideration of Bill C-204.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

In other words, in advance of scheduling the next meeting on Bill C-204, you think that Madame Pauzé and others who have tabled motions—

[The Clerk]

Sure.

We're voting on Mr. Schiefke's motion “That the committee hold an additional hearing in relation to the consideration of Bill C-204before proceeding with clause-by-clause consideration and that the sponsor of the bill and appropriate government officials be invited to attend to answer additional questions”, and then Mr. Saini's friendly amendment concerning additional witnesses, for example, municipal and provincial officials and the like.

[Ya'ara Saks, Liberal, York Centre, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'd just like to follow up on the comments by Mr. Schiefke and my colleague Mr. Baker. Throughout the conversation today with the officials we had here, there seemed to be a tremendous amount of uncertainty when it came to terminology regarding waste and plastic waste. There doesn't seem to be anything in the bill.

We're talking a lot about what we would export out, but we're not even discussing what potentially could be imported.

In addition to that, I do have significant concerns regarding an absolute ban on export, in that we are almost logjamming the internal waste management here in Canada and creating an even bigger disposal problem here, when we're actually trying to resolve it. A chain of events would be sparked by this. The officials are saying that we have mechanisms and solid agreements in place in the current structures we have, which may make Bill C-204 redundant.

We're not sure about that yet. I'd like to share my concerns regarding that uncertainty. We do need more time with this, but a very limited timeline is being proposed. We're not dragging this out.

My colleague Mr. Schiefke and the chair didn't disagree that there is a possibility of doing this in a shorter time. We have all clearly committed time over our constituent weeks to be here to do this important work, and I just don't feel we are there yet.

[Peter Schiefke, Liberal, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate that very much.

I would like to thank our witnesses for joining us today.

There has been a lot of talk at this committee about the importance of enforcement, and rightfully so. To all the witnesses, according to your review of Bill C-204, how would the prohibition be enforced under CEPA?

I understand that the issue could be clarified via regulatory amendments under paragraph 191(a), but doing that would take a significant amount of time. That said, until regulatory amendments are made, enforcement authorities could be limited in that there may not be authority to inspect a shipment of listed “plastic waste” if Bill C-204 is enacted as drafted.

Is that an accurate characterization? Would additional amendments be needed to ensure enforceability of the proposed prohibition?

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Ms. Ryan, in your answer to Madam Pauzé you indicated that the government was following a multi-faceted approach to reduce plastic waste.

Your department imposes Bill C-204 and the alternative is to reduce plastic waste. Some of the ideas the government is imposing are to declare plastics a toxic substance under CEPA and to ban plastics for certain end uses. For example, a lot of plastic waste comes from food packaging. You'll recall in 2008, 22 people died from a listeriosis outbreak in Canada. There were also E. coli outbreaks. Recommendations coming from reports of those outbreaks included strengthening food safety measures, such as inner packaging, i.e., plastic.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency recently put into effect the safe food for Canadians regulations. Have the CFIA, Agriculture Canada and Health Canada been consulted on the plastics ban?

[Laurel Collins, NDP, Victoria, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

You mentioned that the new rules, the current rules, now cover final disposal. Those were accepted December 29. Those are the plastic waste amendments that came into force. I just want to get really clear about the other amendment, which Canada hasn't signed, the Basel ban amendment covering hazardous waste and waste for special consideration.

Could Bill C-204 address the problems in that ban amendment, which we haven't signed on to, and address some of those aims?

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

Thank you.

There is one line in Bill C-204 dealing with the definition around final waste being landfill or final waste being recycled.

Is there a common definition that's being used internationally that we could refer to in this bill?

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks to the witnesses for being here.

We've been sorting through.... I guess in this study when you talk about “sorting” it can be taken a lot of different ways, but in this case we're looking at Bill C-204 as well as the amendments that Canada approved recently on the Basel Convention on plastics, and then we have the Canada-U.S. agreement.

As a member of Parliament, I'm trying to see what's missing in what we've been doing as a government with the Basel Convention and the U.S. agreement, and what would be added by Bill C-204.

Is there anything in Bill C-204 that we're not already addressing through the regulations and the agreements we're currently working on?

[Helen Ryan, Associate Assistant Deputy Minister, Environmental Protection Branch, Department of the Environment]

Thank you very much.

Good afternoon. My name is Helen Ryan and I'm the associate assistant deputy minister, as we just heard, for the Department of the Environment. I'm with the environmental protection branch of Environment and Climate Change Canada.

I am accompanied today by my colleague Dany Drouin, who is the director general of the plastics and waste management directorate, and Nathalie Perron, who is the director of the waste reduction and management division.

I'm also accompanied by Richard Tarasofsky from Global Affairs Canada, who is the deputy director of oceans and environmental law.

I'm pleased to participate in your study of Bill C-204 and to inform the committee of Canada's ambitious agenda to move forward toward zero plastic waste. The past several months have been very productive, and our efforts will yield results both in Canada and internationally.

The Government of Canada has a comprehensive plan to achieve zero plastic waste and eliminate plastic pollution. Through the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment, we have a framework for joint action with provinces and territories with the goal of keeping plastics in the economy and out of the environment. The Canada-wide strategy on zero plastic waste has a two-phase Canada-wide action plan on zero plastic waste that aims to support Canada’s shift to a circular economy for plastics. It contains actions that contribute to reaching the ambitious plastic waste reduction targets laid out in the Ocean Plastics Charter.

Canada’s plan is directly related to global actions aimed at improving plastic waste management and reducing plastic litter entering the environment. A key element of our international action is to implement controls on the transboundary movement of plastic waste and to work with the international community to ensure that our exports do not lead to pollution abroad.

Canada has a robust legislative regime in place for controlling transboundary movement of waste and ensuring that controlled shipments crossing Canada’s borders reach the intended destinations and are managed so as to reduce releases of contaminants into the environment.

The regime includes the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, which is our cornerstone and provides a range of tools to manage wastes. It ensures that movement of wastes controlled under part 7, division 8 of the act cannot take place unless the minister is notified and a permit is issued for international exports.

The PCB waste export regulations, 1996, set out controls on the export of wastes containing PCBs. The interprovincial movement of hazardous waste regulations control the movement of hazardous waste and hazardous recyclable material between provinces through a tracking mechanism. The export and import of hazardous waste and hazardous recyclable material regulations implement Canada’s international obligations, including those under the Basel Convention.

These controls are efficient only if the regulated community complies with them. Accordingly, Environment and Climate Change Canada has actively communicated with Canadian exporters, ad hoc recyclers and sorting facilities with respect to these new measures to ensure their awareness of the new controls that are in place.

These regulations control the export of any waste covered by the Basel Convention when exported to a Basel party. They also control wastes that are defined as hazardous or waste prohibited by the importing country, even if the waste is not defined as hazardous in Canada. A cornerstone of CEPA and the regulations is to seek the consent of importing and transit countries for any export of these wastes from Canada before an export permit is issued. In providing their consent, the importing and/or transit countries confirm that these wastes will be managed in an environmentally sound manner.

On December 29, 2020, Canada accepted the plastic waste amendments adopted under the convention. These amendments strengthen controls on the transboundary movement of certain non-hazardous, non-recyclable plastic wastes, such as mixed or contaminated plastic waste or certain resins—for instance, PVC—and clarify that hazardous plastic wastes are covered by the convention.

The concrete result of this acceptance is that, since January 1, 2021, an export permit is required for the export of plastic waste subject to the convention from Canada to a Basel party. This is a concrete and effective mechanism to ensure that exports of plastic waste covered by the convention take place only if the consent of the importing country has been obtained.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Hello. I'd like to welcome you all to the 19th meeting of the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development.

I should just let you know that the meeting is scheduled to end at 4:30 p.m.

Today we'll spend the first hour hearing from witnesses on Scot Davidson's Bill C-204. We'll then proceed to a clause-by-clause study of the bill.

This afternoon, we have three witnesses from Environment and Climate Change Canada: Helen Ryan, whom we know well, Dany Drouin and Nathalie Perron. We also have Richard Tarasofsky from Global Affairs Canada.

Ms. Ryan, you have five minutes. Go ahead.

[Ya'ara Saks, Liberal, York Centre, ON]

Thank you.

Just to clarify, as Bill C-204 was being introduced, were you able to share your concerns with the bill's sponsor? Were you able to offer stakeholder views on it?

[Ya'ara Saks, Liberal, York Centre, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to all our witnesses who have come here today to help us unpack this so we have a clearer understanding of where we can improve and also know how we can better use the tools we have.

Mr. Masterson or Ms. Mantagaris, I think you have plenty to offer to this conversation today. Does the chemistry industry overall support Bill C-204? Can we know where you sit on this bill? I'm jumping off where my colleague Mr. Schiefke initially asked the question of Mr. Masterson.