After a 14-week hiatus, the House of Commons agriculture committee resumes hearings Oct. 5, and the first order of business will be a controversial bill on registering genetically modified varieties.The committee decided Sept. 30 to give priority to a private member’s bill from British Columbia New Democrat Alex Atamanenko, which would require an analysis of any potential export market harm before new varieties of GM crops are approved by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.The bill won approval-in-principle last spring when Liberals, NDP and Bloc Québécois MPs voting to send it to committee for hearings.It is strongly opposed by the seed and GM research establishment, Grain Growers of Canada and the governing Conservatives. They see it as a political intervention in the variety approval system that will drive away investment and undermine Canada’s international position that agricultural decisions should be science-based. They will mount a strong lobby to defeat the bill when hearings begin.Anti-GM lobbyists, the National Farmers Union and a coalition of environmentalists as well as the BQ and NDP support it.While the Liberals voted to approve the bill, C-474, in principle in a House of Commons vote so it could go to committee for hearings, they likely will oppose it in the committee vote and the bill would die. “I have some real doubts about whether this is the way to go,” said Liberal agriculture critic Wayne Easter.Atamanenko said there has been support for his bill across Canada during the summer. “It just makes common sense to know if the markets want it before you send a new variety into the marketplace,” he said during a spring meeting of the agriculture committee as it toured Canada on young farmer issues.The NDP MP rarely missed a chance to ask witnesses what they thought of his bill. Most who commented were in favour.The committee likely will decide its fate by the end of October or early November.Then it has agreed to finish a report on young farmer issues that it started before the summer break.
Ag committee to resume hearings on GMO approval process
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