As MPs began debating a proposal for a moratorium on genetically modified alfalfa, agriculture minister Gerry Ritz said there is no prospect GM alfalfa will be approved.
“We do have a case-by-case situation that we always put in place in Canada,” Ritz said March 10 after a speech to the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association. “We look at a number of factors including net benefit and so forth but having said that, there has been no demand for it so we have no intention of moving forward.”
At the House of Commons agriculture committee that day, debate started on a motion moved by Liberal Wayne Easter and supported by New Democrat and Bloc Québécois MPs recommending to government that no GM alfalfa variety be approved for market until studies prove it would not harm the alfalfa industry or export markets.
Easter said he was not prejudging the product, simply responding to fears expressed by organic growers during committee hearings on biotechnology. At present, there is no Canadian proposal to have GM alfalfa approved.
“This is a moratorium, not a ban,” said Easter. “It is to let government ensure that there are no negative implications.”
Conservative MPs on the committee tried to block the debate, arguing that the motion is premature because the biotechnology hearings are not complete. They accused Easter of engaging in pre-election political grandstanding and complained that the opposition majority unfairly “bullied” the committee by moving Easter’s motion to the top of the queue even though it is the most recent motion presented.
Still, Conservative MPs who spoke showed some sympathy for the motion, even if they thought the timing was inappropriate.
“It’s really awkward to have this motion before us because we don’t have all the facts,” said Saskatchewan MP Randy Hoback. “The study is not complete. But farmers in my riding are concerned about GM alfalfa, no doubt about it.”
Anti-GMO activists including the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network later accused the Conservatives of blocking a vote on the motion.
In fact, a vote was not called before the meeting ended. After the protracted argument about whether the motion should be called, there was little more than 15 minutes to talk about its substance.
Debate is supposed resume March 22 when Parliament meets after a break week, although it is widely speculated the government could call and an election called during that week, effectively ending the discussion.
Ritz said that while a GM alfalfa will not be approved any time soon, he opposes the proposal for a politically motivated moratorium.
“I’m not going to go as far as Mr. Easter and say there’s a moratorium. That stifles investment and science,” he said. “If Mr. Easter was honest, I’ll be polite, he’d admit it was his government that brought in the test plots. We have since decided not to move forward at this time because there is no demand, there’s no acceptance of that particular product. But politics should never trump science.”
In 2004 when Easter was parliamentary secretary to then-agriculture minister Andy Mitchell, the Liberal government gave the regulatory approvals necessary to allow test plots of GM alfalfa to be established.
