Quebec’s new “bag tax” a possibility

Posted on August 10, 2007
Filed Under Government |

Quebecers may be soon be face a 20-cent tax on on plastic bags at grocery and other stores. Montreal environmental activist Jacques Lalonde recommended the idea to Montreal Environment Minister, Line Beauchamp. Beauchamp reportedly said she was seriously considering the idea.

Lalonde said Quebecers use about 1.5 billion plastic bags a year, and most of them end up in landfill. He also predicted the tax would bring in a revenue of $30-million a year for the Environment Ministry.

The idea is based on a similar tax imposed in Ireland, which resulted in a 90% drop in plastic bag usage. If imposed in Quebec, I would only be confused to whether the motive was either environmental protectionism, tax revenue, or the classic “growth and development of Quebec”…

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