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December 03, 2008

Toronto cracks down on the threat of bottled water

Thomas Lifson
It seems like only yesterday that bottled water was cool. Europeans drank it after all, and LA trendies carried bottles suspended from their necks in cute leather harnesses.

How 90's that all is now! Hollywood North (aka, Toronto) has fearlessly taken on Big Bottled Water.

The city of Toronto has just passed a ban on the sale or distribution of bottled water at all city-owned venues. This is not an outright ban (yet), but the city also imposed a new 5-cent "fee" on plastic bags, and is forcing the city's take-out restaurants to develop recyclable food containers, so the trajectory is clear.

Critics on the Toronto Council noted that patrons would likely now drink sugary soft drinks instead, but the Council still voted 30-13 for the ban. Based on the press accounts, it seems that nobody mentioned that those bubbles in soft drinks come from carbon dioxide, that element essential for life that is now regarded as a pollutant by warmists and even the United States Supreme Court.

Just wait.  Coca Cola, Seven Up, Mountain Dew, and even Canada Dry: your days are numbered in Toronto.

The debate featured some gratuitous and mistaken America-bashing as well. John Spears' account in the Toronto Star includes this choice rhetoric:

Councillor Karen Stintz (Ward 16, Eglinton-Lawrence), said a compulsory bag fee is unnecessary because starting next week the city will accept plastic shopping bags in its recycling program.

Stintz said the five-cent bag fee should be voluntary, noting that many stores already choose to charge it.

Councillor Howard Moscoe (Ward 15, Eglinton-Lawrence) retorted that voluntary fees would be "absolutely useless."

"We've all seen how voluntary regulation works," Moscoe said. "Ask the people in the propane industry how voluntary regulation works. Talk about the mortgage industry in the U.S., that has plunged us into recession."

Evidently, news of the federal pressure to make risky loans in the name of "justice" (The Community Reinvestment Act) has not reached some in Canada.

Hat tip: Jacob McKay

Posted at 11:27 AM | Email | | | Share Share
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