Trudeau mocked after Liberals crack down on wood ovens with 'crusade' against pizzerias and bagel shops

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was mocked for his party having out-of-touch priorities after the federal government carried out compliance checks at restaurants that have wood-fired ovens.

Trudeau's Liberals implemented the ominous-sounding "compliance promotion activities" at vendors such as pizzerias and bagel shops to determine whether or not the restaurants are following emissions regulations under the National Pollutant Release Inventory program.

The program is a publicly available list regarding what type of pollutants are released into air, water, or land by businesses. Businesses must report all alleged pollutants to the government, which includes declaring the operation of stationary combustion equipment and what contaminants it releases.

The government claimed that the NPRI does not regulate the emissions; rather it just keeps track of them.

"Addressing air pollution is a shared responsibility between federal, provincial and territorial governments. Some provinces and municipalities in Canada also have standards in place that set limits on air pollutant emissions from new residential wood-burning appliances," a government spokesperson told CTV News.

Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre took shots at the prime minister for his "crusade" against pizza ovens while seemingly ignoring actual crises.

"I know that Prime Minister Trudeau and his federal agency have launched an outright crusade against pizza ovens," Poilievre told reporters. "They started in Montreal, but we know they will get out here to Vancouver."

"[Residents] who are locked in their homes and terrified of pizza ovens should be at ease that Justin Trudeau will come to your rescue," the party leader sarcastically said. "Don't worry about your 100% rent increase or the fact that you can't feed yourself; Justin Trudeau is spending your money going after pizza ovens here and everywhere, and he will not stop until this crisis is resolved."

Poilievre appeared to be rereferring to Montreal's ban on older wood-burning stoves and fireplaces, which has been discussed as possibly becoming more strict since the rules came into effect in 2018.

Montreal's health department cracked down on the stoves further in 2020 after the city's health department revealed that 3% of air pollution in the city came from commercial wood-burning stoves.

Similar government regulation was seen in New York in 2023, after the NYC Department of Environmental Protection drafted new rules to regulate coal and wood-fired ovens installed in restaurants prior to May 2016.

A man threw pizza at city hall in protest.

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