Are you for or against the familiar plastic bag full of flyers being delivered to your home?
If a new petition in Montreal gets 15,000 signatures by June, the city will launch public consultations on the future of the Publisac.
“Everybody is concerned about the environment,” said Montreal Executive Committee member Laurence Lavigne-Lalonde. “We talk about that every day, so we think it’s important to discuss those topics.”
Montrealer Charles Montpetit is behind the petition. He thinks the flyers should not be sent unless people request them.
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“If people want to read the material from all the companies that have a circular, then they will ask for those,” he told reporters at city hall. “You cannot force people to read it by delivering it without asking for it.”
Montpetit also thinks the flyers should not be allowed to be delivered in plastic bags, and that they should respect online anti-spam rules.
“This is already the law online,” he said.
“You cannot get spam or circulars or any kind of bulletin if you don’t subscribe to it.”
Montpetit said he got involved in the anti-Publisac movement when he asked the company to stop delivering flyers, but they kept bringing them.
“Now, they have to collect 15,000 signatures in 90 days to force the city to have a consultation on the topic,” said Lavigne-Lalonde.
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Montpetit said the movement has the support of environmental groups like Equiterre, Greenpeace and the David Suzuki Foundation, and believes the petition will easily surpass the required amount of signatures.