A suggested ban on the sale of plastic water bottles in Ontario was struck down in the legislature Thursday amid mixed messages from the Liberal government that left the door open to a possible ban in the future.
Education Minister Kathleen Wynne was among the Liberals who voted against the private member's bill, saying the plan wouldn't allow enough time to ensure clean water is available to everyone who needs it.
"It's not that I think bottled water is a terrific thing, it's that right now we're working with schools and school boards to change the nutritional guidelines .... and bottled water is part of what they use," she said.
"The other reality is that right now there are school boards where there's lead in the water and we're actually supplying bottled water to those schools."
The surprise vote came after Environment Minister John Gerretsen signalled he was open to the idea and was willing to consider all options that would limit waste.
While Gerretsen said he wasn't ready to take a final stance on the subject, he praised the bill earlier in the day for its attempt to cut back on garbage in the province.
"We are considering ... all efforts to reduce the amount of garbage that's being produced, that will entice us to do more recycling, more reusing and more reduction of material," Gerretsen said.
"Any effort like that should be applauded, but we don't want to make any judgments as to what specific actions we're taking because we're in a consultation process right now."
The bill, introduced last month by Liberal backbencher Kuldip Kular and debated Thursday in the legislature, was meant to reduce waste and energy consumption associated with making and recycling plastic bottles, as well as encourage the use of tap water. It received 17 votes against and 10 in favour.
Had it passed, people breaking the law would have faced a fine between $500 and $1,500, while corporations would have had to pay $10,000 for a first-time offence and up to $25,000 for each subsequent offence.
Kular said after the vote that the bill was "dead," but he harboured no hard feelings against the Liberals who voted against it.
"I wanted to create a dialogue, I wanted to raise awareness for these issues," Kular said.
Wynne said she wasn't opposed to the idea of the ban, just its timing.
"I think it's something that's coming," she said. "As a society, we're going to need to develop better ways of supplying water to ourselves.
"But the timing was just not possible for me to support it at this point."
Progressive Conservative finance critic Tim Hudak had said earlier Thursday he was against the bill, arguing the government needs to stop banning things and instead focus on the province's financial woes.
"The real issues we have in the province today are massive job losses, Ontario becoming a have-not province and getting equalization payments for the first time in history," Hudak said.
"And what do Liberals care about? Bottled water bans. They're out of touch."
NDP Leader Howard Hampton had indicated his party would have likely supported the bill, saying that continuing to fill landfills with empty water bottles is irresponsible.
"We either have to return to returnable bottles, or we have to find another way to deal with this," Hampton said.
Several municipalities have already voted to eliminate sales of water bottles at city-run facilities, saying they are a hazard to the environment.
School boards in Toronto, Ottawa and Waterloo, as well as city councils in London, Ont., and Vancouver, have all moved to restrict the sales of bottled water.
Toronto is also looking at banning paper coffee cups with plastic lids, and ordering retailers like Tim Hortons to provide 10- to 20-cent discounts to customers who bring their own cups.
Supporters of the ban argue a lot of carbon-emitting fossil fuel is used to produce and transport the plastic bottles, which then end up in landfills. Environmentalists also say tap water is just as good as bottled water in most Canadian municipalities -- and much cheaper.