The big news yesterday was that the federal government finally unveiled the first phase of their single-use plastics ban, focusing on six primary culprits – plastic bags, straws, stir sticks, cutlery, six-pack rings, and polystyrene take-out containers (though I’m not entirely clear if the can’t-recycle-in-this-country black plastic take-out containers would also be included). Most of these items are things for which there are alternatives that are fairly easily obtainable, and will likely become more affordable the more their production ramps up and they get scale in the economy that had thus-far been denied to them.

But there is immediate push-back. The Chemistry Industry Association of Canada bristles that in order to achieve the ban, the government is using the toxic substances mechanisms available to them, and the industry is aghast that they are in the same category as asbestos and lead – err, except that the proliferation of microplastics, particularly from plastics that break down, would quite probably fit that bill very well. The Alberta government is also grousing because they think this will affect investment in their petrochemical industry, even though the ban is quite limited and wouldn’t affect high-quality plastics which are will still see broad use, nor would it really affect their plans to turn Alberta into a hub of plastics recycling (which is important because there is very little plastics recycling in North America as we had relied on off-shoring the work to places like China, which shut their borders to it). The province’s energy minister also found it “ironic” that this announcement was made a day after Jason Kenney made his own announcement on plastics and recycling being part of Alberta’s “diversification” efforts, even though a) it’s not actually ironic, and b) this has been something the federal government has been talking about for over a year, did the necessary consultation process required under the Toxic Substances Act, and as a minister, she knows that these kinds of announcements aren’t dreamed up overnight but take some fair amount of planning and coordination. But Alberta is going to Alberta, whatever happens, so this is nothing new.

Good reads:

• Chrystia Freeland insists that they will soon unveil a new programme to help businesses deal with fixed costs like rent – but she’s still talking with the provinces.
• Harjit Sajjan called out China’s hostage diplomacy at an international panel discussion, and is urging NATO members to keep an eye on China’s efforts.
• With provincial messaging and advice on COVID prevention being muddled, it turns out that expert opinion is actually quite consistent, but not being communicated.
• Canada Post’s operations in Nunavut are being swamped by online orders, and they are unable to cope with the high volume of deliveries.
• The proposed new American ambassador to Canada is unlikely to be confirmed before the election, and may not be named if Biden wins.
• The Supreme Court of Canada upheld the government’s changes to peremptory challenges in jury selection. (For context, my story from May is here).
• Erin O’Toole says he will give his MPs a free vote on the upcoming conversion therapy ban and medical assistance in dying reform bills.
• Kady O’Malley’s Process Nerd column reviews where the various committees stand when it comes to reviving their various WE Imbroglio investigations.
• Colby Cosh recounts a recent Federal Court of Appeal decision that spills some piping hot tea on the state of the judiciary and how it is perceived.
• Robert Hiltz is righteously outraged that the premiers have screwed us over by not preparing for the second wave, in many cases because they were too cheap.

Odds and ends:

Want more Routine Proceedings? Become a patron and get exclusive new content.