Thank you very much for this privilege. I'm very honoured to be here.
I have three basic recommendations for this committee.
The first one is that we need to turn off the tap. Canada's plastic problem is only going to be resolved if we produce fewer plastics. As the metaphor goes, if you go into your bathroom and the bathtub is overflowing, you want to turn off the tap. We've spent over 20 years now debating how good the towels are that we're using to mop up the water. We've deliberated on how much money we should be spending on the towels, etc., and “towels” means recycling. We need to stop doing that. We need to reorient at federal, provincial and municipal levels on reducing the production of plastics.
The second thing we need to do is reject the delay, distraction and derailment tactics that the fossil fuel and plastics industries are using to get us to continue to focus on recycling and distract us from the reduction of plastics, which is the only thing that is going to have a significant and meaningful impact on our environment and human health.
The third thing we need to do is lead the world in plastics production reduction. I noticed that just yesterday, the United States indicated they are going to move forward, depending on which government we see in the next election, on real initiatives to reduce plastics production by the plastics and fossil fuel industries. I firmly believe that Canada can absolutely lead the way in plastics reduction through a whole lot of different foci on reduction, reuse and refurbishment, etc. We have plenty of examples in our country and we need to draw on these examples. We need to draw on the plastics ban in the European Union and in countries such as France and Germany. As a leading oil and plastics producer globally, we need to also lead globally in plastics reduction.
Thank you.