Correct Answer: how firmly Canada should back limits on new plastic
Passage Reference: I think Canada should back firm limits on new plastic in the global treaty now being negotiated
Why this is correct: The columnist asks whether Canada should champion binding caps on new plastic or start with design rules. Every speaker takes a side on that question.
Tips: For a “mainly about” question, read the last sentence of the first paragraph. It names the question that every speaker answers.
Why the other options are wrong:
- whether coastal towns should limit summer tourists: Tourist seasons come up only because cleanup budgets rise then. Nobody wants to limit tourists.
- how fishing towns can attract new workers: Whalen represents a fishing town, but hiring workers there is never discussed.
- why grocery prices have risen in Winnipeg: Winnipeg appears only in Bressan’s example of food spoiling on a truck. The column does not explain grocery prices.
Correct Answer: Esther Bressan
Passage Reference: warns that strict caps could push up grocery prices and spoil food in transit if protective films disappear before replacements are ready
Why this is correct: Esther Bressan warns that hard caps could spoil food in transit if protective films disappear too early. That means food going to waste.
Tips: Read each speaker’s worry, not just their side. Match the question’s “food going to waste” to the same idea said in other words.
Why the other options are wrong:
- Ilan Crowe: Ilan Crowe wants caps and talks about cleanup budgets. He does not worry about wasted food.
- Alder Kruger: Alder Kruger’s concern is plant workers who need a fund and retraining, not spoiled food.
- Paz Whalen: Paz Whalen wants yearly scorecards and tested design standards. The warning about food spoiling comes from Bressan.
Correct Answer: towns whose cleanup bills rise each summer
Passage Reference: coastal cleanup budgets climb every tourist season
Why this is correct: Crowe says coastal towns already pay for unrecovered packaging and that their cleanup budgets climb every tourist season. Towns with rising cleanup bills would support him.
Tips: Find what Crowe told MPs. Pick the evidence that would show the problem Crowe describes.
Why the other options are wrong:
- stores where food spoiled in new wrapping: Food spoiling in new wrapping would support Bressan’s warning against quick caps, not Crowe’s case for them.
- plant towns hit by sudden closures: Sudden closures in plant towns would support Kruger’s call for a worker fund and a plan, not Crowe’s argument.
- councils that publish yearly progress reports: Yearly reports match Whalen’s scorecard idea. They would not show the cleanup costs that Crowe describes.
Correct Answer: a worker fund would be public before the treaty vote
Passage Reference: if Ottawa publishes a transition fund for affected workers before Parliament votes to ratify
Why this is correct: Kruger says the workers would back the treaty if Ottawa publishes a transition fund for affected workers before Parliament votes to ratify.
Tips: Look for the word “if” in Kruger’s lines. Read that sentence to the end and match its condition.
Why the other options are wrong:
- resin plants would close before the treaty vote: Kruger wants a plan so that workers are not surprised. Plants closing before the vote is what he fears.
- each plant would vote on the treaty itself: Parliament votes to ratify. Kruger never asks for votes at each plant.
- unions would design the new packaging rules: Design rules are Bressan’s idea. Kruger asks for a fund and retraining timelines.
Correct Answer: in favour, if they come in stages
Passage Reference: the caps should tighten step by step as Whalen’s scorecards show progress
Why this is correct: The writer wants Canada to argue for binding caps. But the caps should tighten step by step, so the writer favours them in stages.
Tips: For an attitude question, read the first sentence of the column and the first sentence of the last paragraph. Compare what each one says about the caps.
Why the other options are wrong:
- opposed, because food prices would rise: The columnist supports caps. Food prices are Bressan’s worry, and the column answers it with design rules first.
- unsure, until more studies are done: The last paragraph opens with a clear answer, “yes, with a timetable.” The columnist asks for no further studies.
- eager to impose them at once: The columnist says caps should be phased in “rather than flip a switch,” so not at once.
Correct Answer: push companies to redesign their products
Passage Reference: only a cap on new plastic will push companies to redesign products before they reach the shelf
Why this is correct: Crowe, the biologist, says only a cap on new plastic will push companies to redesign products before they reach the shelf.
Tips: The comment calls him “the biologist”, so find Crowe’s lines in the second paragraph. Look for the words “only a cap” and read what it will do.
Why the other options are wrong:
- lower the price of groceries: Crowe never says caps lower grocery prices. Bressan fears caps could raise them.
- end beach cleanups within a year: Crowe says cleanup budgets keep climbing, but he never promises cleanups will end in a year.
- close the resin plants in Sarnia: Crowe never mentions closing plants. The Sarnia plants come up in Kruger’s part of the column.
Correct Answer: clear retraining timelines for each plant
Passage Reference: He also wants clear retraining timelines for each plant.
Why this is correct: Kruger, the union adviser, also wants clear retraining timelines for each plant.
Tips: The comment calls him “the union adviser”, so find his lines. Look for the words “He also wants”.
Why the other options are wrong:
- higher wages for plant workers: Kruger never asks for higher wages. He wants a transition fund and retraining timelines.
- a ban on building new resin plants: Kruger speaks for resin workers and never calls for a ban on new plants.
- a new plant built in another town: Kruger never asks for a new plant elsewhere. He wants retraining timelines for the existing plants.
Correct Answer: yearly scorecards on how much plastic was cut
Passage Reference: she wants public scorecards that show each year how much new plastic Canada has cut
Why this is correct: Whalen, the councillor, wants public scorecards that show each year how much new plastic Canada has cut.
Tips: The comment calls her “the councillor”, so find the person who sits on council. Read the first thing she says she wants.
Why the other options are wrong:
- free reusable bags for every household: Reusable bags are never mentioned. Whalen’s idea is a yearly public scorecard.
- a beach cleanup in every coastal town: Whalen never proposes cleanups. Volunteers raking the beach come from the columnist’s story.
- a tax on plastic sold to tourists: No tax is proposed in the column. Whalen asks for public scorecards.
Correct Answer: design standards that prove themselves first
Passage Reference: she thinks Bressan is right that design standards should prove themselves before the steepest caps apply
Why this is correct: Whalen thinks design standards should prove themselves before the steepest caps apply.
Tips: Look for the word “before” in the councillor’s last sentence. Notice which side she agrees with on this point.
Why the other options are wrong:
- resin plants that stay open for ten years: Whalen never mentions how long plants stay open. Her concern is testing design standards.
- grocery prices that stay fixed by law: Nobody in the column proposes fixing prices by law.
- caps that apply only to foreign firms: Whalen never limits caps to foreign firms. She wants design standards tested first.
Correct Answer: filled two bags with caps and wrappers
Passage Reference: my brother and I filled two garbage bags with bottle caps and food wrappers on a single stretch of beach near Tofino
Why this is correct: Look at the first paragraph. At the age of ten, the columnist filled two garbage bags with bottle caps and food wrappers on a beach near Tofino.
Tips: The comment asks about “your childhood beach”, so find the memory from when the writer was ten. Read what the writer and a brother did there.
Why the other options are wrong:
- found a sea turtle caught in plastic: No sea turtle is mentioned. The memory is of bags full of caps and wrappers.
- raked the sand every single weekend: Volunteers rake the beach every weekend today. The columnist did not.
- sold fish from a stand on the shore: Selling fish belongs to the commenter’s family shop, not to the columnist’s story.
