New Democrat Alex Atamanenko went for dinner in the hours after MPs resoundingly defeated his bill to toughen the approval process for new genetically modified varieties.
The atmosphere was far from funereal. It was a strategy discussion about the next phase of the campaign.
“I think the debate has just started,” Atamanenko said after his evening with a group that included Lucy Sharratt, co-ordinator of the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network.
“I think we now have to focus on specific cases where a real threat to market disruption can be shown. That is how to make the case.”
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GM alfalfa. The National Farmers Union is part of the coalition.
“The bill was voted down but a real debate about the impacts and future of genetic engineering has now started,” she said in a news release.
In the House of Commons, Conservative and Liberal MPs combined Feb. 9 to defeat bill C-474 by a vote of 176-97.
Atamanenko’s bill would have required an economic analysis of potential market closures or resistance before a new variety could be approved, particularly in GMOskeptical export markets.
Opponents, including a strong lobby by the biotechnology and seed industry and some farm organizations, said it would inject politics and uncertainty into what should be a science-based process.
Conservatives were opposed, arguing that even having the debate undermined confidence in the regulatory system and drove away investment.
Liberals waffled.
They voted to send C-474 to the Commons agriculture committee for public hearings because the issue of market acceptance is important. However, they ultimately voted against it because they said there was no road map on how the economic assessment would be done or by whom.
After the vote, Atamanenko issued a bitter statement.
“Once again we see these two major parties putting the interests of their big business buddies ahead of everyday farmers whose livelihoods can be destroyed in an instant from contamination by genetically engineered seeds and crops,” he said.
Opponents of the bill celebrated, declaring the debate over.
“The defeat of this bill is good news for farmers,” agriculture minister Gerry Ritz said in a statement after the vote.
“It is critical that our system remain based firmly in science, not in politics.”
The Canadian Canola Growers Association said MPs did the right thing.
“The changes proposed in Bill C-474 would have only added ambiguity and uncertainty to our seed system with the end result being a loss of innovation and competitiveness for farmers,” president Ed Schafer said in a statement.
Atamanenko said he will now try to convince the agriculture committee to hold hearings on specific cases, including the impact on Canadian alfalfa growers of the recent U.S. decision to license GM alfalfa for commercial use.
Last week, the agriculture committee travelled from Alberta to Prince Edward Island examining the potential and challenges facing the biotechnology industry.
It meant many members of the committee were not in the Commons for the vote.
