That's a good question.
It was not beforehand, but rather in response to the registry. The more a government knows about the various types of plastics in use in Canada, the better able it will be to develop effective public policy. So one of the benefits of the registry is that it will provide more information.
Regarding the way the information is collected, as mentioned earlier, are we asking for the right information? There is a great deal of plastic in durable goods, such as in fisheries and cars, that we don't know much about. There is a lot of talk about packaging because that's what we see and have at home as consumers. So another benefit of the registry is that it goes beyond the plastics we have around us. On the other hand, people do not necessarily know how much plastic they have.
I don't think industry asked for this registry. It could nonetheless support sound decision-making and public policy development that is more in keeping with what industry wants.