Whereas the Supreme Court of Canada has refused to hear the appeal of a BC Court of Appeal decision in Canadian Plastic Bag Association v. Victoria City, a decision which effectively limits the ability of local governments to regulate the use of soft plastics and other plastic packaging within their geographic jurisdictions; And whereas some local governments see the need for such regulation: Therefore be it resolved that UBCM request that the Government of British Columbia amend Section 9 of the Community Charter to expressly allow local government regulation of plastics and other packaging substances that may be considered environmentally deleterious.
Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy The Ministry of Municipal Affairs continues to recognize plastics and waste reduction as a priority. The Province, under the lead of the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy, is laying the groundwork to ban certain types of plastic products by proposing to draft a new regulation under the Community Charter to allow local governments to ban single-use plastics, such as checkout bags, plastic straws and polystyrene foam take-out containers, without requiring provincial approval. Until this regulation is in place, the Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy will continue to review local government bylaws banning single-use plastics submitted to the Minister on an individual basis, enabling those communities to move forward with plastics bans. In addition, the Province has committed to developing a provincial ban on single-use plastics and is planning to consult with stakeholders to make sure the proposed framework is manageable and takes into consideration economic recovery. The provincial ban will align with federal government initiatives that occur within the same timeframe. The Ministry of Municipal Affairs is not considering amending the Community Charter to expressly allow local governments to regulate plastics and other packaging materials that may be considered a threat to the environment, as this can be permitted by regulation as outlined above.