Most of Canada to receive emergency alert test today
The federal government will test its capacity to issue emergency alerts today, with the exception of Ontario, where the test will take place on May 15.
Canada's ban on single-use plastics is now in effect, starting with the manufacture and import-for-sale of certain products.
The prohibition on several categories of plastics begins Dec. 20, affecting a range of products from checkout bags and cutlery to takeout containers and stir sticks. A ban on the sale of these products starts a year later, in December, 2023.
The federal government had initially planned to start the phase-in by the end of 2021, but delayed it to 2022. The regulations were published in June.
The move is part of an effort by the federal government to achieve zero plastic waste by 2030, citing the impact that plastics have had on the environment through pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.
Here are the products that are subject to Canada's single-use plastics ban, starting Dec. 20:
Checkout bags made entirely or in part from plastic and used to carry purchased goods from a business will be subject to the Dec. 20 ban on manufacture and import for sale.
The ban also includes fabric bags that cannot meet a stress test, meaning they can't break or tear if carrying 10 kilograms over a distance of 53 metres, 100 times, or when washed.
The ban on cutlery includes single-use plastic knives, forks, spoons, sporks and chopsticks that contain either polystyrene or polyethylene, or that change their physical properties when run through a household dishwasher 100 times.
The prohibition includes clamshell containers, lidded containers, boxes, cups, plates and bowls made entirely or in part from plastic and designed for serving or transporting ready-to-eat food or beverages.
These products will be subject to the ban if they contain: expanded or extruded polystyrene foam, the latter commonly referred to as Styrofoam; polyvinyl chloride, often used in salad containers; carbon black or black plastic food containers that usually come with a transparent lid; or oxo-degradable plastic.
All types of plastic stir sticks, designed to mix beverages or prevent them from spilling from a lid, will be banned under the federal government's current regulations.
The prohibition includes straight plastic drinking straws that contain polystyrene or polyethylene, or which can't be run through a dishwasher 100 times.
Single-use plastic flexible straws, not packaged with a beverage container, are excluded under certain conditions, such as to accommodate people with disabilities.
A retail store, for example, may sell a package of 20 or more single-use plastic flexible straws if a customer asks and the package is not displayed publicly.
The manufacture and import-for-sale ban in Canada is the first step. Consumers will slowly see the phase-out of these products over the next year as industries and businesses deplete their stock and turn to sustainable alternatives.
A ban on the sale of these products begins on Dec. 20, 2023, while a prohibition on the manufacture, import and sale for export of these plastics is due to take effect on Dec. 20, 2025.
A prohibition on the manufacture and import for sale in Canada of ring carriers or six-pack rings, used to carry aluminum cans and plastic bottles, will begin on June 20, 2023. Their sale will be banned by June 20, 2024, while their manufacture, import and sale for export will be prohibited starting Dec. 20, 2025.
With files from The Canadian Press
The federal government will test its capacity to issue emergency alerts today, with the exception of Ontario, where the test will take place on May 15.
An Ontario woman said it would have been impossible to buy a house without her mother – an anecdote that animates the fact that over 17 per cent of Canadian homeowners born in the ‘90s own their property with their parents, according to a new report.
Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, has made headlines with his recent arrival in the U.K., this time to celebrate all things Invictus. But upon the prince landing in the U.K., we have already had confirmation that King Charles III won't have time to see his youngest son during his brief visit.
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
A long-simmering feud between hip-hop superstars Drake and Kendrick Lamar reached a boiling point in recent days as the pair traded increasingly personal insults on a succession of diss tracks. Here’s a quick overview of what’s behind the ongoing beef.
Canadian immigrants threatened by hostile regimes are urging parliamentarians to quickly pass the 'Countering Foreign Interference Act' so they can feel safe living in their adopted home.
An Ontario man found out that a line of credit he thought was insured actually isn't after his wife of 50 years died.
Spanish state prosecutors recommended Wednesday that an investigating judge shelve a probe into another alleged case of tax fraud by pop star Shakira.
With Donald Trump sitting just feet away, Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday at the former president's hush money trial about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
An Ontario man says he paid more than $7,700 for a luxury villa he found on a popular travel website -- but the listing was fake.
Whether passionate about Poirot or hungry for Holmes, Winnipeg mystery obsessives have had a local haunt for over 30 years in which to search out their latest page-turners.
Eighty-two-year-old Susan Neufeldt and 90-year-old Ulrich Richter are no spring chickens, but their love blossomed over the weekend with their wedding at Pine View Manor just outside of Rosthern.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A mother goose and her goslings caused a bit of a traffic jam on a busy stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway near Vancouver Saturday.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.