Four months into the five-cent plastic bag tax, one city councillor is demanding answers on the bylaw's success.
Councillor Michael Walker said has told city manager Joe Pennachetti he wants to know how the city is measuring the success of the new bylaw, how many bags have been charged for under the bylaw, how often businesses will report to the city on the nickel-bags they've sold, how licensing is enforcing the bylaw and if any fines have been issued to businesses for breaking the bylaw.
The inquiry is on the agenda for the two-day city council meeting set to start tomorrow.
"This thing has been going on a long time and it's now spreading out into the province and I want to know, are we carrying out on the other side," Walker said.
Estimates are that Torontonians use 460 million plastic bags a year, which cost the city $1 million annually to process even though the bags have been recyclable since December of last year.
Retailers who don't charge for the bags could face a $100 to $300 fine, according to city officials.
The program, which is expected to put $10 million annually into retailers pockets because the city doesn't collect the fee, was to be reviewed after one year.
But Walker worries that, with like other of the city's environmental bylaws, there is no enforcement.
He likened the bag tax to the city's anti-idling bylaw.
"There's no enforcement, just a twice-a-year blitz...that's the height ofhypocrisy," he said. "It's not a very enviable record for a politician if they pass all this stuff and then they don't carry through."
Toronto Mayor David Miller used the City of Toronto Act, which allows the city to protect the environment, to pass the bylaw.
Also coming up at this week's council meeting is a proposal to allow Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment to spend $5.5 million to install real grass at BMO field, move the winter bubble to Lamport Stadium, and to install an artificial turf field at Lakeshore Collegiate.
The changes are to help attract top-level international soccer at BMO field, according to city documents.
Also, council will debate creating 20 new downtown on-street parking spots which would all be reserved for car-share companies ZipCar and Auto-Share as part of a one-year pilot project.
The new spots being added to city streets, approved at this month's public works and infrastructure committee, will be located on Ed Mirvish Way, as well as Emily, Jordan, Mutual, and Gould Sts.
ZipCar and Auto-Share are paying $200 for each of their respective new spots to cover the administrative costs of creating and enforcing the parking spaces.
The issue is expected to cause some debate on council, because although the committee approved the pilot project unanimously, some councillors disagree with the idea, or the price.
Councillor Mike Del Grande said there is a "fairness" issue at play because the city is helping two private car-rental companies and leaving others who don't offer rentals by the hour in the cold.
"We are not in the business of helping people own cars. That's not our role,"
Del Grande said recently. "When we go out of our way to help private companies at the expense of other private companies, I think there's a fairness issue."
Car-sharing companies offer their members hourly car rentals, and estimate that for each car they put on the road to be shared, 14.9 cars come off the road. Currently, car-sharing cars are parked in parking lots near public transit routes.
Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong, who is concerned the city won't be able to monitor the program properly to measure whether it actually reduces cars on city streets, said recently the two private companies benefitting from the program should be paying more money.
"They should pay the going rate," he said, noting just because council supports what the companies do, they shouldn't "give away" valuable on-street parking spots for less than they are worth.
"We may not be driving the car, but we sure are being taken for a ride," he said.
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