The Retail Council of Canada is lobbying Saint John council to give retailers more notice on a proposed plastic bag ban that would come into effect this June.
The proposed ban follows recommendations from the Fundy Regional Service Commission and would outlaw plastic bags by the end of June.
The director of the Atlantic branch of the Retail Council says the ban would unfairly punish smaller businesses.
“It’s troubling because nobody consulted with us. Nobody consulted with the CFIB [Canadian Federation of Independent Business]. Nobody consulted with Restaurants Canada,” said Jim Cormier. “Those are probably the three biggest industry associations in most provinces in the country, and nobody was consulted.”
He says his group doesn’t oppose plastic bag bans, they’re just advocating for a bigger say in the rollout of the bylaw process.
Cormier would have liked the Fundy Regional Service Commission to have worked with them on the bag ban.
In October, Moncton, Dieppe and Riverview’s plastic bag ban was enacted, after the Retail Council helped them in the drafting process.
Those municipalities harmonized their bylaws, which Cormier believes makes the change more palatable to industry.
“When you represent chain retailers, they like harmonization between regions, provinces, and municipalities, because if you’re doing business in multiple areas you don’t want to reinvent the wheel for every step you have,” he said.
From smaller businesses up to large corporations, Cormier says they all buy up to a year supply of bags at once to get a better price.
“This is not something that’s going to put retailers out of business. But when you have municipal councils going on about how they… don’t want to create needless administrative headaches and red tape. This is a perfect example of how they could have avoided that if they’d just picked up the phone and ask us a few questions.”
The bylaw to ban plastic bags by the end of June will come before council next January.
