Toronto's big new mayor, Rob Ford, may have gotten more than he bargained for when he threatened to bring back the free plastic shopping bag. Mayor Ford wants to scrap the 5ç charge on plastic bags at Toronto area cash registers. He told reporters that people were complaining about the charge after they had purchased big-ticket items such as winter coats and televisions. (Although it's difficult to imagine how anyone would fit such items into a plastic shopping bag.)
Residents are furious. It seems Torontonians don't want any more plastic bags than they already have. Advocacy group Stop-the-Madness has declared that the 5ç fee on plastic bags has actually been a huge success. Yesterday organizers rallied its 7150 members for a bag-throwing demonstration at Nathan Philips Square. Participants, many still recovering from New Year hangovers, brought thousands of used plastic bags and dumped them at the doorstep of City Hall. Maintenance workers (also hung-over) were back on the job today after the long weekend, trying to clean up the giant mess. Compounding the situation, a stiff breeze at noon had blown several hundred plastic bags into nearby trees, causing workers to bring in large cherry-picking trucks. Littering charges against the demonstrators are pending.
Sergeant Dowson Jones of 26 Division at Toronto Police Service told reporters, "Pollution in this city will not be tolerated. Offenders will be charged and persecuted to the full extent of the law — if we can find them." Indeed, all the demonstrators have vanished, leaving only the accumulated mess of several thousand used plastic shopping bags around the front door of City Hall as evidence of their crime. The case continues.
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