Madam Speaker, it is an honour to rise in response to a question that I asked the Prime Minister earlier this year around ocean plastics. We know that a garbage truck of plastic is entering our environment every minute. I had a chance to speak in the first hour of debate in support of my motion, Motion No. 151, on Monday.
We heard that we are going to get support from all four opposition parties. I want to thank them for their support first. They understand that this is a huge issue. It is certainly an issue for Canada, with the longest coastline in the world, and it is a global issue.
We heard some of the concerns from the Conservatives that were raised in debate around my motion. They were worried about the costs to the taxpayer. I just wanted to address some of those concerns.
We heard from the World Wildlife Fund that over $13 billion U.S. is the cost currently to our oceans right now in terms of ocean plastics that are impacting our fisheries, our coastline and our important pristine environments. Locally, we are finding over 90 pieces of microplastic in a salmon and at least two pieces of microplastic in the average shellfish. Therefore, this is potentially a huge threat to our shellfish industry and our fishing industry. We need to make sure that we are prudent about that and fiscally responsible, instead of letting plastic escape our environments into our aquatic environments that could impact future generations and put the cost burden on them.
On October 24, the European Parliament overwhelmingly backed a ban on single-use plastics, including items like plastic straws, cotton swabs, disposable plastic plates and cutlery. It has committed to banning them all by 2021 and that 90% of all plastic bottles will be recycled by 2025. I commend it. That is leadership.
Dame Ellen MacArthur, the founder of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, on October 29, put out an op-ed in The Huffington Post, which states:
We cannot recycle and clean our way out of this crisis—we must move upstream to the source of the flow. When the boat is sinking, bailing out buys you time, but what you really need to do is fix the hole.
I could not agree more. We actually need to not just think about recycling, but eliminate and reduce the amount of plastic that we are using and that is going into the environment.
A good friend of mine, Captain Josh Temple from Clayoquot CleanUp, he always refers to the amount of plastic going in the ocean as an oil spill that is happening every day. We need tangible measurable goals that are transparent, and that are reported annually and publicly.
Back on October 24, when the European Parliament voted, its environment commissioner Karmenu Vella said:
Today we are one step closer to eliminating the most problematic single use plastic products in Europe. It sends a clear signal that Europe is ready to take decisive, coordinated action to curb plastic waste and to lead international efforts to make our oceans plastic-free.
The question I have is this. Is Canada ready? Will the government support my motion like the other opposition parties? I asked that question of the Prime Minister. I ask that question today. We need a national strategy to combat this growing problem.