Thank you very much, Mr. McKinnon.
I know this is an issue that is deeply in the hearts of all Canadians. We want to see less plastic pollution and tackle seriously, for the first time, plastic pollution that is choking our waters, our lakes, our rivers, our oceans. If we don't act, we will have more plastic pollution by weight in our oceans than fish. That's why we're working on innovative solutions. That's why we're pushing internationally through our ocean plastics charter, but we need to do work at home.
I was really pleased last year on Canada Day when we banned microbeads. We've also put federal government suppliers on notice that we'll be working with suppliers who are committed to a zero plastic waste vision. We can use our procurement power. We're reducing plastic waste from government operations. I'm working with MP Fillmore on this: limiting unnecessary single-use plastics from the federal government, including from our cafeteria. They're doing great things but we still have some work to do.
We need to be supporting developing countries, because plastics know no borders either, and waste management facilities are extremely important. That's why we're investing$100 million to support developing countries to develop and implement sound waste management systems.
We also have a huge economic opportunity. Plastic waste has value. We're literally throwing out hundreds of millions of dollars every year. We can do much better with a circular approach to the economy. We're working with producers. Producers need to be responsible for the plastics we produce. We need to be working with cities, towns, provinces—and that's why we're developing the first-ever national zero plastic waste strategy.