OTTAWA – The agriculture and farm chemical lobbies are gearing up for a September showdown with the federal Pest Management Regulatory Agency over its plan to charge $16.5 million a year in cost recovery fees.
In what is expected to be a tense session, the two sides will sit down Sept. #24-25 to go through the $34 million budget of the PMRA as the industry looks for ways it can be reduced.
If the budget cannot be cut, the agency says it will impose fees that would be passed back to farmers through higher chemical costs. It has only reluctantly agreed to the Sept. 24 session.
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Representatives for the Canadian Manufacturers of Chemical Specialties Association say the fees also could result in some minor use chemicals being withdrawn from the market.
The late September meeting comes after the Canadian Federation of Agriculture organized an intense political lobby on the issue.
The battle over user fees has created some bad blood between the two sides, even before they sit down to talk budgets.
CFA president Jack Wilkinson told federation members in a Sept. 5 letter that the PMRA is showing “blatant disregard” for farmer interests in its heavy-handed approach.
For its part, the PMRA told the CFA it is “not in a position to negotiate” on a policy that affects human health and the environment.
“For people who like shouting and screaming, it is going to be a good meeting,” CFA executive secretary Sally Rutherford said last week.
Lobby for support
Health minister David Dingwall, to whom the agency reports, could face some questions about its budget when Parliament reconvenes Sept. 16.
At the core of the battle is an industry conviction that the $34 million PMRA budget is too high. If it could be reduced, the cost recovery bill would not be as high.
Wilkinson complains the budget has increased from a 1994 estimate of $14.2 million to $34 million without explanation.
The size of the staff is increasing from 129 three years ago to a projected 408 by 1998.
And the Canadian agency, formed by amalgamating staff from departments of agriculture, environment and health, has not cleared the backlog of uncompleted registrations despite costing more proportionately than similar agencies in the United States and the United Kingdom.
