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Some residents in northeastern Ontario are questioning a new law that would allow the prime minister’s cabinet to use pesticides even if Health Canada deems them unsafe.
Bill C-30, passed on June 18, gives the Cabinet the power to license pesticides that it believes will benefit the national economy or food security. The bill does not clearly define what the national economic or food security interests are.
Camille Tremblay-Beaulieu, co-executive director of Sudbury Shared Harvest, a charity that promotes local food production and sustainable practices, said she found the government’s explanation vague.
“There are a lot of questions on my mind right now about the potential impact not only on our gardens, but also on the people who eat them, and how do we know what’s in our food,” she said.
Tremblay-Beaulieu said one of her concerns is whether the government will be transparent with the public and whether food affected by banned pesticides will be labeled.
She also wanted to know whether the government had considered alternatives before taking this step.
“Once you do something, it’s very, very difficult to undo certain actions,” Tremblay-Beaulieu said.
“Living in Sudbury, I realized how difficult it is to grow forests back after all the mining impacts we had, and we still live with a lot of that.”
According to Sen. Rosa Galvez, scientists, public health and environmental experts were not given the opportunity to testify before Congress on the bill.
A coalition of environmental groups also said in an open letter that they had not been consulted and the relevant advisory committee had not investigated the changes.
However, the Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association expressed support for Bill C-30, writing that the bill “expands the mandate of Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to consider the impact of their decisions on Canada’s food supply and agricultural competitiveness.”
Will Runnals, a farmer in the Timiskaming area, said he had to battle an infestation of the midge midge about 10 years ago. The damage devastated canola production in northern Ontario.
Rannals said he lost about 75 percent of his crop and it took a year to get emergency permits to use the necessary pesticides.
“Perhaps (if this authority had been in place) we could have solved the problem that crop year,” Rannals said.
“It was bad for us, but it’s not that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things. But if that happened in Western Canada, where 20 million acres of rapeseed are grown, you can see how huge (the impact) would be.”
Rannals said he agrees that food security is important and that Canada may need such powers in the future, but acknowledged that “on the other hand, (this bill) also acknowledges that some decisions will be political.”
Rannals had questions about what the threshold for using his new powers would be.
“I hope it’s limited to extreme situations,” he added.
“I’ve read both opinions, and as a farmer, I would say I’m in the middle, indifferent at this point. And let’s see what happens.”
