Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is “provocative” by ostentatiously celebrating the use of plastic, Steven Guilbeault said Wednesday morning.
Last week, Mme Smith posted a photo on X of herself drinking ginger ale through a long plastic straw to demonstrate her opposition to a new bylaw in the city of Calgary.
The regulation, in effect since January 16, aims to reduce plastic pollution by charging customers a minimum amount for plastic bags and to stop automatically providing certain products – such as utensils and straws – unless the customer make the request.
“I think that Ms. Smith is provocative, since we know, and Canadians know very well, that plastic pollution has impacts on health, on the environment,” indicated Steven Guilbeault, Minister of the Environment and Climate Change.
Wearing a green tie made from recycled products, Mr. Guilbeault noted that a UN summit on plastic pollution is to be held in Ottawa in April and that an international treaty to end it by 2040 could be set up.
CREDIT: OFFICE OF THE MINISTER OF THE ENVIRONMENT
Mme Smith has made Minister Guilbeault his favorite target in a war of words via media that never ends.
“That Ms. Smith does not appreciate the work that I do to protect the environment so that we have access to water and clean air, that does not matter to me,” said the minister and co-founder of the environmental organization Équiterre.
According to the Statista website, as of 2022 the world produced more than 400 million metric tons of plastic per year, of which more than 353 million are not recycled, while around 15% are recycled. Plastic microparticles are found everywhere in nature, including in our “babies,” underlined Minister Guilbeault.