Critics feel pestered by Canada’s new pesticide rules.
Driving the news: A federal bill that passed last week in the House of Commons and the Senate, giving Ottawa the power to authorize pesticide use irrespective of Health Canada warnings, could hamper trade access in Europe’s agricultural sector, a senator has warned.
Catch-up: The bill is meant to give the feds more leeway to permit pesticide use in the name of economic and food security — e.g. farmers need something heavy duty to combat a devastating boll weevil infestation.
Additionally, amendments included in another bill that’s been tabled but hasn’t yet passed would reduce the frequency of reevaluations of approved pesticides.
Why it matters: Canada already has far looser pesticide rules than the EU, which operates on a ‘better safe than sorry’ model. With this new law, the country is moving in the opposite direction from the bloc on the issue, an odd move considering Ottawa’s goal of boosting trade with the continent.
Only 28 of the 383 active pesticide ingredients banned or unapproved in the EU are restricted in Canada, according to a 2023 University of Quebec at Montreal analysis.
The disparity caused drama last year, when France barred imports of two Canadian red lentil products after an investigation found high levels of a banned substance.
Zoom out: In general, Canada’s pesticide regulator has faced criticism for being a step behind on pesticide harm prevention (the cases of chlorpyrifos and DCPA being two prime examples), poor data collection, and having a close relationship with the pesticide industry.
Reporting in 2024 by Canada’s National Observer alleged that the regulator colluded with Bayer to undermine independent research by a Canadian ecologist.
Our take: Pesticides are not automatically bad — they have done wonders for global food security — but this new bill does feel at odds with what most of the world is doing and could spawn more trade irritants with countries Canada is trying to endear itself to.—QH
