Are Tim Hortons’ new lids ‘woke’? One Conservative MP thinks so

Conservative MP Lianne Rood says she has no time for Tims after the fast food chain began testing new lids in certain locations.

Over the past year, Tim Hortons has been replacing plastic coffee lids with fibre ones as part of a pilot project in some cities.

Rood took to social media to complain about the “woke paper lids that dissolve in your mouth.”

“Until Tim Hortons gets rid of this paper lid, I’m done with Tim Hortons,” she said in a video posted to X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday.

In a separate X post, the Ontario MP claimed that the lid begins dissolving after a few sips and took a shot at some of Tim Hortons’ food selections.

“We’ve overlooked Tim Horton’s wacko menu items but now their coffee doesn’t even work like coffee anymore,” Rood wrote.

Rood’s video was shot outside of a Tim Hortons location just south of Parliament Hill.

The company announced in April that it would be conducting a six-week trial of its fibre lids at some stores in the nation’s capital.

“We’re excited to ask Ottawans to help us test this new, plastic-free and recyclable lid for Tim Hortons hot beverage cups. We’re known for serving Canada’s favourite coffee, so it’s important that we develop a best-in-class solution for our guests,” Paul Yang, Tim Hortons’ director of sustainable packaging, said in a media statement at the time.

Yang said the new lids are meant to feel like the old ones, but are completely plastic free. Similar trials with the lids were conducted in Vancouver and Prince Edward Island in recent years. The Vancouver pilot eliminated the use of 3.3 million plastic lids, according the the company’s press release from April.

Tim Hortons said Thursday there is no plan to switch to fibre lids company-wide.

“This is part of our long-term learning for packaging alternatives,” the company said in an emailed statement.

Reducing plastic waste has been a key part of the Liberal government’s environmental policy, which includes a ban on single-use plastics, such as straws and cutlery. The ban does not include coffee lids.

In November, a judge struck down a key policy upholding the ban. The government says it plans to appeal.

The Conservatives have taken aim recently at the single-use plastic ban. Saskatchewan MP Corey Tochor introduced a private member’s bill in February that would reverse the policy.

Tochor has complained specifically about the loss of plastic straws.

“Soggy, limp, wet and utterly useless: we are not talking about the Liberals. We are talking about paper straws,” he said during a House debate on his bill last month.

Conservatives haven’t always been so hostile to the idea of banning certain plastic items. In 2015, the Conservative government under Stephen Harper pledged to ban small plastic “microbeads” used in personal care products.

Negotiators from around the world were in Ottawa last month to discuss a possible global treaty on plastic waste reduction. A final round of meetings is set for later this year in South Korea.

Every day, the equivalent of 2,000 garbage trucks full of plastic are dumped into the world’s oceans, rivers and lakes, according to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

The UNEP says plastic pollution can alter habitats and the natural world, reduce ecosystems’ ability to adapt to climate change and directly affect livelihoods and food production for millions of people.

Only about nine per cent of plastic is recycled.