Prime Minister Nelly Furtado leaned over the large wooden table in the cabinet room and smiled at the man beside her.
“First Man Joe,” she said, half-teasing, “you look like you’ve got another revolution brewing.”
Joe crossed his arms and shook his head.
“Not a revolution,” he said. “Just common sense. I’m sick of these chemical-laden plastic bottles everywhere. Oceans full of them, landfills full of them. We can grow something better right out of the ground.”
Furtado nodded thoughtfully.
“You’re talking about hemp again.”
Joe grinned.
“Industrial hemp. Strong fiber, biodegradable plastics, textiles, insulation, even paper. Instead of petroleum bottles, we make plant bottles. Canada has the land to do it.”
He pointed toward a giant map of the country on the wall.
“The Prairies. Saskatchewan, Alberta, Manitoba. Millions of acres.”
Furtado stood and tapped the plains region on the map.
“The vast plains of Canada could grow enough hemp for the entire world,” she said. “It’s hardy, it grows fast, and it doesn’t need the chemical inputs that plastics require.”
Joe nodded.
“And farmers win. Instead of importing oil-based plastic products, we export hemp materials. Bottles, packaging, clothing, construction materials. Real industry.”
Furtado laughed.
“Joe, you’re basically proposing the Great Canadian Hemp Initiative.”
“Exactly,” Joe said. “A new national crop. Clean manufacturing. Biodegradable products. Imagine a Canadian bottle that turns back into soil instead of floating in the Pacific for 400 years.”
The Prime Minister looked out the window toward the mountains beyond Vancouver.
“Oil built the twentieth century,” she said. “But plants might build the twenty-first.”
Joe shrugged.
“And hemp grows like a weed.”
Furtado smiled.
“Then let’s grow it.” 🌱🇨🇦
