Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has once again threatened Canada over the unresolved issue of waste erroneously delivered to the country's capital in 2013 and 2014, vowing to send all the trash back to "Canada's beautiful beaches". Earlier, he vowed to declare war against the North American country if it wouldn't resolve the issue.
READ MORE: Philippines' Duterte Vows to Declare War on Canada for Garbage Smuggling
The president's spokesman, Salvador Panelo, confirmed that Duterte is "angry" at Canada for its lack of action, but assured that his threats were mere "figures of speech" and "an expression of outrage".
"I don't think any country would want to trigger another world war because all of us will be annihilated", he said.
Amid the ongoing scandal between the Philippines and Canada, Toronto-born commentator Mark Steyn trashed the Canadian policy on the issue in an interview with Fox News' Tucker Carlson. He mocked the country for allegedly solving its climate change problems by dumping its waste far away from its territory.
Steyn further took on Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, mockingly arguing that it was not his problem, while at the same time referring to probably the most "unpleasant" part of the waste cargo — used adult diapers.
"This is Canada shock and awe, leaving used adult diapers on the dock in Manila. […] And you were wrong to blame Justin Trudeau for this. These are adult diapers and he's still on child size", he said.
Canada shipped a total of 103 containers with domestic waste, such as plastic bags, newspapers, and used adult diapers, but which were declared as recyclable plastic scraps between 2013 and 2014. Ottawa has failed to take the garbage back ever since.
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Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised to work out a "solution" to the problem, which emerged prior to him taking office in 2015, but so far no progress has been made in that regard.
