Yes, the 5c fee can be used by the retailer freely; including just pocketing the profits.
But even if they scrap the bylaw stating you must charge for the bags, what's stopping stores from continuing to charge for bags now that they see profit in it?
Doesnt change the fact that costs will continue to rise due to a diseconomy of scale that exists for data. Its the reason Rogers and Bell are forced to increase $/gb.
Holy shit, don't get me started on the telecom cost across the board in Canada compared to the rest of the world. Or the government and CRTC's backwards, self serving nature when it comes to regulation over the monopolies we have. Bell drags their feet on upgrading infrastructure, bitch and complain about being overloaded, and refuses to release actually numbers to prove this is the issue, and then stand in front of MPs are try to compare data to oil, or gas as a commodity. Not like the telecom giants are struggling with their profits either, with each year setting new records. Too bad protecting the consumer is about last on the list of priorities for the CRTC, if you take them at their actions instead of their word.
Don't give Bell a pass because of their 'rising cost'. They're making profits hand over fist, so if they had to absorb some of the cost of upgrading, or just maintaining the system, they would be okay. They are just trying to squeeze us for all we're worth, because there's almost nothing stopping them legally.
I'm fine with the store pocketing that 5 cents. The only way you are going to get companies to enforce environmental policies is if there is money to be saved or made.
More to do with people at that level than the companies. 5 cents is not enough to deter most people from buying a bag. I see dozens of plastic bags come out of grocery stores for every one fabric bag / backpack being used to haul groceries. It's very sad. If it was something like 25 cents per bag (enough to make most people flinch about buying), and you gave 10 cents to the store for profit and take 15 cents for an environmental fund at city hall, then maybe it would make some sort of difference.