WINNIPEG – On page 433 of the most recent federal budget, there’s a sentence that could be meaningful for farmers and crop protection companies in Canada.
It’s in Annex 5 of the budget, which deals with legislative measures.
“In Budget 2025, the government proposes to amend legislation to remove cyclical pesticide re-evaluations to enable modern, risk-based oversight.”
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If the federal government follows through on this proposal, it could potentially reduce the wait times to get pesticides approved and into the hands of farmers.
“It certainly caught our eye. If taken on face value, it could be very significant and could have a very positive impact on both industry resources and PMRA resources,” said Pierre Petelle, president and chief executive of CropLife Canada, which represents the pesticide and plant breeding innovation industry.
Why it Matters: Canadian farmers need access to crop protection and novel products to remain competitive with farmers in America, Australia and elsewhere.
Right now, the Pest Management Regulatory Agency reviews the safety of registered pesticides on a schedule, every 15 years or sooner.
That allows the PMRA to keep up with new information that “may affect a previously made regulatory decision,” says a Health Canada website.
The downside is that PRMA experts spend a large amount of time studying the safety of pesticides already on the market. That takes time away from other tasks, such as reviewing new crop protection technologies.
Thanks to the regulatory backlog, farmers in other countries may get access to novel chemistries and products years before Canadian producers.
Petelle is cautiously optimistic that the government will act on the words in its budget and remove the requirement to review pesticides every 15 years.
“We’re reading this as something (that’s) potentially significant,” Petelle said.
However, a new approach will have to replace the existing system.
One possibility is Australia’s model.
Instead of a review schedule, the Australian regulator will respond to new information about a particular pesticide.
If there’s a concern and it warrants action, it will launch a targeted re-evaluation of the pesticide, Petelle said.
At this point, a few days after the federal budget, it’s difficult to speculate on the outcome of one sentence in a 493 page document.
However, there is a change of tone in Ottawa, where prime minister Mark Carney and his ministers seem committed to red tape reduction, Petelle said.
Agriculture minister Heath MacDonald has said regulatory decisions need to happen faster at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the PMRA.
“It’s economics. We can’t have our farmers at a disadvantage.… (It’s) the timing and speed that we (need) to adjust. That’s a cause for concern, sometimes.”
In its election platform, the Liberal party discussed the PMRA and CFIA and how the agencies should consider the economic implications of their decisions, Petelle said.
CropLife plans to lobby the government, asking the Liberals to fulfill that promise.
“Why not embed that in the legislation…. Insert that language and it becomes consequential in the Pest Control Products Act,” Petelle said.
“Now you’re telling the department that it (economic impact) is actually a consideration.”
