Doug Ford directs LCBO to go back to using single-use paper bags
Paper bags could soon return to the LCBO following a request from Ontario’s premier.
In a letter to the CEO of the Crown corporation, Doug Ford says he wants “immediate steps” taken to reverse the reusable bag policy.
“At a time when many Ontario families are already struggling to make ends meet, every additional expense counts,” the premier wrote in a letter dated April 7.
“That includes charging customers for reusable bags instead of the free paper bags that the LCBO previously offered. This change has left people stuck openly carrying alcohol in public when leaving a LCBO store.”
The Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) announced it would be phasing out free paper bags in April 2023, noting it would divert about 2,665 tonnes of waste from landfills.
They said this would be the equivalent of saving more than 188,000 trees every year.
The policy went into effect seven months ago in September.
In his letter, Ford said that people expect Crown corporations to “refrain from imposing additional and unnecessary burdens on them.”
He also said that the environmental merits are “questionable at best,” considering they are recyclable.
“As a government, we are focused on making life easier, more convenient, and more affordable for the people of Ontario. The decision to remove paper bags has had the opposite effect.”
LCBO customers can still use the retail store’s eight-pack carriers or used cardboard boxes for free.
A six-bottle bag and large reusable bags cost about $2.95 while a two-bottle reusable bag is available for $1.25. The LCBO said the bags are made from recycled water bottles.
A four-pocket organic cotton bag is available for about $15.
A spokesperson for the LCBO said it received “direction from the provincial government to take steps to reintroduce single-use paper bags at LCBO retail locations.”
“While we are not able to confirm an availability date at this time, we will share more details with our valued customers in the coming weeks,” they said.
Paper bag policy ‘a massive distraction’
Ontario opposition parties said they were surprised to hear the premier spend energy and time on this policy reversal, saying there are other ways to save people money.
“I question the government’s priorities on this one,” NDP Leader Marit Stiles told reporters Monday.
Liberal Parliamentary Leader John Fraser said he isn’t going to speak negatively about the policy choice, but that “it’s just not the most important thing facing Ontarians right now.”
“Do Ontarians want paper bags at the LCBO? I think more Ontarians want to have a family doctor. I think more Ontarians want to have rent control so they can pay their rent.”
“That’s the stuff people should be focused on.”
Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner called the policy “a massive distraction from the premier’s failure to address the housing affordability crisis.”
“If people really want to save money, bring a reusable bag to the LCBO,” he said. “You can save money for yourself, the LCBO and also save trees.”
Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy told reporters the change was on-brand with the government’s commitment to giving people choice and convenience.
“They can choose to use reusable bags,” he said.
When asked why the government is adopting this policy a year after the LCBO started to phase out single-use bags, Bethlenfalvy said it was the result of feedback.
“We're constantly trying new things. And then we got the feedback. We heard from many people that this was something they wanted, to continue to have the option of paper bag. So that's what we're doing.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
DEVELOPING Latest updates on the major wildfires burning in Canada
The 2024 wildfire season has begun, and it's shaping up to follow last year's unprecedented destruction in kind, with thousands of square kilometres already consumed.
Veteran TSN sportscaster Darren Dutchyshen has died
Veteran TSN broadcaster Darren 'Dutch' Dutchyshen, one of Canada’s best-known sports journalists, has died. He was 57. His family says 'he passed as he was surrounded by his closest loved ones.'
Toronto man killed his mother and decapitated her — but it wasn't murder, lawyers argue
A ‘lifetime of abuse’ led Dallas Ly to snap and repeatedly stab his mother inside their Leslieville apartment in 2022 but he never intended to kill her, his defence lawyers argued during at his murder trial in Toronto on Thursday.
He had dreams of running for Canada in the Olympics, then he learned his family would be deported
A burgeoning track star says his dream of going to the Olympics is being derailed by a deportation order after Immigration officials rejected his family’s claim for asylum
Kidnapped by her father and kept in a crawl space: Court documents reveal Montreal horror story
A Montreal father who kidnapped his daughter who has autism and lied to police when they asked where she was should serve three years in prison, a Crown prosecutor said.
Loblaw agrees to sign grocery code of conduct after months of negotiations
Loblaw Cos. Ltd. said Thursday it's ready to sign on to the grocery code of conduct, paving the way for an agreement that's been years in the making.
Teen died from eating a spicy chip as part of social media challenge, autopsy report concludes
A medical examiner says a Massachusetts teen who participated in a spicy tortilla chip challenge died from ingesting a substance 'with a high capsaicin concentration.'
Pierre Poilievre presses Justin Trudeau for summer pause on carbon and fuel taxes
To give Canadians a break on their summer road trips, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to suspend all gas and diesel taxes from Victoria Day to Labour Day.
Canada sanctions four Israeli 'extremist settlers' accused of attacking Palestinians
Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly is imposing sanctions on Israelis she accuses of 'extremist settler violence' in the West Bank, three months after pledging to do so.