OTTAWA — Federal Liberal leader Justin Trudeau appears prepared to go against party wishes when it comes to banning neonicotinoids.
Members at the party’s recent Montreal convention voted in favour of an immediate ban on the seed treatments used by canola, corn and soybean growers.
However, Trudeau told the Canadian Federation of Agriculture annual meeting that doesn’t mean it will actually happen.
“Any convention, you get things come forward. You listen to them,” he said.
“Whether or not they get implemented is based around what’s good policy.”
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He said the Liberals will rely on evidence.
“We will take into account the concerns of people who voted in the Liberal party, but ultimately we’re a party of science-based policy,” he said.
“And we’ll be looking at ways to move forward and to support farmers based around science and research and not necessarily implement a ban on neonics, despite a very clear will (of convention delegates), which I take as a will to make sure we’re being smart about bee populations.”
Trudeau’s comments came after a plea from Leo Guilbeault of the Ontario-Quebec Grain Farmers’ Coalition.
Guilbeault said beekeepers want the pesticide banned, but grain farmers like him need the competitive advantage they provide. He said neonicotinoids are used on millions of acres.
“If we lose this technology without replacing it with a plan B, which we don’t have right now, we’re looking at 20 percent production losses across the country,” he said.
Guilbeault said farmers are constantly told that they’re going to have to feed billions more people and keep up with technology to remain competitive and produce more food.
“We don’t disagree that there’s an issue,” he said.
“I will disagree that banning neonics is the wrong approach.”
Last fall, the Pest Management Regulatory Agency attributed considerable bee deaths in Ontario and Quebec to dust contaminated with neonicotinoids.
Guilbeault said farmers will use deflectors on their planters and monitor bee populations, but best management practices must prevail.
Trudeau said people are worried about bee populations because they understand the role bees play in agriculture, but he said in many cases neonicotinoids are “far less harmful than the alternatives.”
