Blanket zoning sucked the air out of paper bags. That’s one way to see Tuesday’s meagre turnout — only five speakers — for a public hearing on repealing the big bag blunder. …Today, nobody will be fined $250 for breaking the rules, since they no longer exist. …Few city hall measures have ever seemed so picayune and invasive. After years of being told paper bags are good because they aren’t plastic, they were suddenly bad. …I treasure the following comment from a city official, previously quoted. “If we can bring our own bag from home, then we don’t have to worry about the trees that were cut down and the logging trucks that bombed along the logging roads scaring recreationalists, and the pulp mills.” So it wasn’t really about paper bags at all. The real target was forestry, one of Canada’s major (and sustainable) industries. A harmless, compostable product found itself in the crosshairs.