Toronto city council scraps plastic bag tax, then votes to ban bags

TORONTO – Toronto’s plastic bag tax will be a thing of the past on Canada Day, and six months later, the bags will be too.

City council passed a motion to scrap the five-cent retail bag tax on July 1, removing a pet peeve of Mayor Rob Ford.

But moments later, council voted more decisively to ban distribution of plastic bags altogether.

Toronto will become a bag-free city on Jan. 1.

In doing so, it will join other major centres such as San Francisco, Seattle and Los Angeles, who have already implemented a ban on single-use plastic bags.

The tiny community of Leaf Rapids, Man., was the first community in Canada to ban the bags in April 2007.

(680 News, The Canadian Press)

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