Is this the last straw? Check the registry

It would be reasonable to assume the Liberal government of Justin Trudeau would have learned from its political forebears that registries are costly and wildly unpopular with voters.

The long gun registry, implemented in 1993 by then-prime Minister Jean Chretien, was initially predicted to cost $2 million. By the time of a 2002 audit, revised estimates from the Justice ministry predicted those costs would balloon to a whopping $1 billion by 2004-05, and income from licence fees for the same period would be only $140 million.

Federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault seems to have forgotten all that. He announced this week that Canada would implement a federal Plastics Registry, to track production and waste of plastics, phased in over the next few years.

“What we're aiming to do with this registry is to ensure that there's more transparency in Canada on the production and use of plastics,” Guilbeault said, as he hosted a global conference on plastic waste in Ottawa.

“It's hard to tackle a problem if you don't know what it is, where it is, what's being used,” he said.

This comes hard on the heels of the Federal Court overturning Canada's ban on single-use plastic as being “unreasonable and unconstitutional.”

Last November, the court found the government acted outside its authority in labelling plastics “toxic.”

A Fraser Institute report released shortly after that decision points out that even the government has admitted that Canada doesn't have a significant plastic waste problem. It said

99% of this country's plastic waste is already disposed of safely through recycling, incineration and environmentally friendly landfills.

“Furthermore, Canada's contribution to global aquatic plastic pollution is estimated to be between 0.02% and 0.03% of the total, with nearly 90% of the pollution originating from Asia and Africa. Eliminating Canada's plastic waste would, therefore, have an undetectable impact on ocean plastic pollution,” the report said.

So-called “single use” plastic bags are often recycled as garbage bags and provide a hygienic way of transporting food products, such as meat, to avoid contamination with other groceries inside a reusable bag.

Is Guilbeault's registry the last straw?

Probably not. But it sure looks like a lot of wasted effort for a goal that could be better achieved through recycling and education.