The region's largest municipality is taking a “wait and see attitude" before they jump into a ban on single use plastic shopping bags..
Saanich Mayor Richard Atwell says they’ll sit back and watch a court case happening in neighbouring Victoria.
Victoria is moving forward with the CRD's model bylaw for banning plastic bags. But the Canadian Plastic Bag Association recently petitioned the BC Supreme Court arguing the city of Victoria doesn't have the authority to ban the use of plastic bags.
"Given that the case law is going to be established fairly quickly with this action against Victoria we've decided to wait until that happens and then we'll take another step." says Atwell.
Others on council, such as Susan Brice, wanted to see Saanich get its own legal opinion right away. "I would like us to be prepared to take it just as far as we can and be ready when the Victoria situation is dealt with.”
The vote was 5-4 against a motion to seek legal advice at this time. The defeated motion also called for minimum pricing to be set for single use plastic bags.