Mr. Speaker, right now in the oceans protection plan there is no mention of plastic or ocean plastic. In fact, there is a regulatory void and the government still has not filled it. The Liberals talk about their international commitments but they are voluntary.
We have had a lot of consultation. We are asking the government to at least show it is serious about this issue and take some concrete steps. The mayor of Tofino, who was just at UBCM, said so eloquently, “Thx #UBCM2018 delegates for so strongly supporting this message to the federal government. Canada needs to move beyond a voluntary plastics charter to national strategy that methodically brings in the regulation Canadians want, to reduce plastic.”
A circular economy will not do it. A replacement economy will not do it. We need actual regulations that will limit and regulate single-use plastics. That is what we are calling for. In my question for the Prime Minister, we got the same rhetoric back; that he made a commitment to the oceans protection plan, but still no mention of ocean plastics or plastics.