Trudeau’s plastic ban is an empty gesture—ocean pollution comes from elsewhere

Trudeau announced he will be banning single-use plastic in Canada by 2021, but according to the World Economic Forum, 90% of plastic pollution in the ocean comes from Asia and Africa. In reality, Trudeau is presenting an exasperating farrago of distortions to distract us from his scandals and failures in government.

The report from WEF states that “90% of plastic polluting our oceans comes from just 10 rivers.” It then lists eight of those rivers are in Asia, and two in Africa.

More than 8 million tons of plastic waste ends up in the ocean every year, and if the report is taken into account, 7.2 million tons of it comes from Asia and Africa.

The major culprit countries/regions in this matter are China (five), Pakistan (one), India (one), South-East Asia (one), Egypt (one) and Nigeria (one). Canada is not even mentioned.

With such pressing facts, it is clear that Trudeau’s plastic ban is hypocritical and does more harm than good. In my previous article, I highlighted four gaffes from Trudeau that disprove his logic, or the lack thereof, for banning single-use plastics. It would hurt the disabled people; Trudeau spends $300 on 1600 plastic bottles every month; Trudeau spends exorbitant amounts on boxed water; he gave a $35 million grant to a plastics company to expand their plant.

However, what people fail to see is that this is a blatant example of virtue-signalling by the Prime Minister. If you oppose his viewpoint you are “not an environmentalist,” which is ironic from his own practices. In fact, his poor choice has united some voices on the left and the right in calling out his stupidity.

I believe this was a tactic meant to throw us in a debate over whether single-use plastics should be banned or not, while distracting us from his scandals and failures. Increased focus on the SNC-Lavalin affair, and his foreign policy failures, has only served to diminish the Liberal vote share in polls.

Furthermore, the Left claims that Trudeau’s policy is too little too late, and targets the wrong areas. They believe that this move is to cover up his horrific carbon tax which burdens the middle-class, along with his stance on pipelines.

It is imperative that Canadians don’t fall for his virtue-signalling trap, and stick to challenge the Prime Minister on the real issues at hand; real issues that matter to the Canadian people.

If Trudeau cares so much about the environment, he must work to curb countries in Asia and Africa from polluting the marine ecosystem. Canadians are not at fault, and Canadians must not pay for the mistakes of other nations.