Saskatchewan government intervening in federal plastics case

The Saskatchewan government wants to remind the federal government where the boundaries are when it comes to government jurisdiction.

To that end, the provincial government has joined the Government of Alberta to speak as intervenors in a federal case to get a judicial review of the federal government’s labelling of single-use plastics as toxic. The decision made last year allowed the Government of Canada to ban certain single-use plastics.

Arguments were made virtually on Tuesday.

“We felt it was important to intervene from a division of powers perspective. It’s been long established that the federal government doesn’t have the right to infringe in specific regulations of provinces,” explained Bronwyn Eyre, Saskatchewan’s minister of justice.

Eyre said this is a waste management issue that’s under provincial and municipal jurisdiction. She said the federal government coming in increases duplication and confusion and adds another level that’s not needed.

As a second point in the case, the Government of Saskatchewan also doesn’t agree with the policy. Eyre said it doesn’t believe that plastic should be labelled as toxic and thus placed in the same category as arsenic and mercury.

The documents from the federal government on the change talk about toxic chemicals that can be contained in plastic, depending on the kind, and the harm it leaching out into the environment and into living things from microplastics can do. The work cited studies talking about the harms to animals but harms to humans appeared to be less quantifiable.

In her opposition to the classification and resulting single-use plastics ban on things like plastic cutlery and checkout bags, Eyre also talked about the cost to business.

“We know that restaurants, for example, have to take into account every slice of every tomato. It’s very similar with the bags. These things add up; they add up,” said Eyre.

However, even if the Government of Saskatchewan did agree with the policy, Eyre said it would still be going to court over what it feels is the federal government overreach.

“I think we stopped (thinking that) saying nothing (equates to) being good Canadians and I think legally this was an issue that was worthwhile intervening on,” she said.

Were the provincial government to get its way and the classification of plastics changed, Eyre couldn’t say whether Saskatchewan would implement its own single-use plastics ban.

“If we were to make determinations about plastics within the realm of provincial regulation, that would be something that would obviously have to be debated here. It would have to be brought forward by us and discussed as government provincial policy,” said Eyre.

The Opposition Saskatchewan NDP feels this intervention is another example of how out of touch the current government is.

Justice Critic Nicole Sarauer said there are a lot of things the provincial government could be doing to help businesses right now like cutting SaskPower increases, putting a cap on delivery fees and freezing the gas tax.

“These are things that could be much more helpful to businesses than intervening on a court case that could take years to work its way through the process,” said Sarauer.

Sarauer said her party has been hearing from industry leaders that they’re frustrated with the province’s relationship with the federal government.

“This government has chosen political battles and spats with the federal government when it suits their political agenda rather than stepping up, being adults in the room and going to the table to get real solutions for Saskatchewan people, and Saskatchewan people are noticing,” said Sarauer.