City Council reinforced what was already going to happen Monday night when it directed city staff to look into the elimination of single-use plastic bags in Guelph.
Coun. June Hofland put the motion on the floor to direct staff to “investigate strategy for the elimination of single-use plastic bags” and report back to council by the end of June next year.
That motion passed by a 9-4 vote and came following a presentation by Shayne Ward, founder and executive director of Plastic Free Guelph.
YAS GUELPH! Working towards banning those single-use plastic bags! Thank you @JuneHofland and @thatjamesgordon for putting forward a motion and seconding it! Motion deferred to @cityofguelph staff to report back in 2019 with recommendations towards eliminating single-use bags!!
— Plastic Free Guelph (@guelphplastic) July 24, 2018
That organization has a petition with 2,800 signatures calling for a ban on single-use plastic bags by Earth Day 2019.
“It’s time now for council to be the leaders we voted you to be,” Ward said.
“We can do it, it’s just as leaders of our community we have to move ahead and legislate it,” Ward said.
Plastic Free Guelph’s 48-page report on single-use plastic bag elimination can be found here.
Following two hours of discussion, some of it prickly, city staff saidl that the issue was already part of the city’s Solid Waste Management Master Plan process that will get underway early in 2019.
Deputy CAO Scott Stewart said it is a multi-faceted issue that requires the input of many elements, including legal opinion, stakeholder input, science, marketing, public consultation and others.
“If it was simple, we would have done it already,” Stewart said.
Mayor Cam Guthrie said that the issue was not a political one.
“To me it’s just the right thing to do,” he said of moving toward banning single-use plastic bags.
Victoria and Montreal have launched bans on single-use plastic bags this year, with fines for individual or corporate offenders.
In Victoria grocery stores offer paper bags for 15 cents or reusable bags for $1.
Any opposition to Hofland’s motion Monday was not against the need or desire to eliminate the use of plastic bags, but more about the process of how her motion came forward.
Coun. Dan Gibson was particularly miffed that a motion came following a presentation from a citizen without any prior notice to some members of council.
“Who knew about the motion before four o’clock today? Because I didn’t know about it,” Gibson said.
Tonight council ostensibly decided we no longer need a Notice of Motion process. Just a presentation followed by surprise motions. Very disappointing evening for #Guelph governance.
— Dan Gibson (@DanGibsonCllr) July 24, 2018
The mayor cut off some heated back and forth between Gibson, Hofland and coun. Phil Allt on the procedural issues of the motion.
Gibson’s procedural point was supported by coun. Karl Wettstein.