In one of their last decisions before the end of the session Oct. 22, members of Parliament voted decisively against mandatory labeling of food containing genetically modified ingredients.
On Oct. 19, MPs voted 114 – 61 against a motion from Bloc QuŽbecois MP HŽlene Alarie to require labeling and extensive government research into the effects of GM foods. It was a vote that divided the main political parties.
Although cabinet ministers and most Liberals present voted against the idea, a handful of Liberals did vote for the motion. It was the same in the Canadian Alliance, where the majority opposed it but a handful supported the motion.
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The NDP and BQ were united against it and the Progressive Conservatives present voted for it.
For Alarie, the vote was a fitting end to her crusade against GM food.
She has spent years asking questions, organizing petitions with tens of thousands of names, forcing the House of Commons agriculture committee to hold hearings on the GM labeling issue.
She has been working almost full time to keep the topic on the political agenda.
When she stood for one of the last votes of the 36th Parliament, Alarie was applauded even by some of her Liberal opponents.
For backbenchers, she was an inspiration on how to have influence as a private member.
But her policy obsession did not win political favor.
The Liberals supported a slower, more methodical approach. The Canadian General Standards Board is considering how and whether to write rules for voluntary GMO labeling while the Royal Society of Canada has been asked to study future developments and to recommend policies to the federal government.
“Food biotechnology presents Canadians with challenges but also great and unprecedented opportunities,” said Ontario Liberal Larry McCormick, parliamentary secretary to the agriculture minister.
Conservative MP Rick Borotsik staked out the same ground.
Mandatory labeling should not be required as long as countries Canada trades with do not. A better answer is more consumer education, Borotsik said.
All those who opposed mandatory GM labeling said they do not see the cost of labeling as justified as long as GM foods meet safety standards.
Canadian Alliance agriculture critic Howard Hilstrom did not carry the support of all his caucus but he used his speech to criticize the critics and their “socialistic” antagonism to big business.
“I do not hear the Bloc QuŽbecois saying anything about how mandatory labeling would be paid for,” he said.
“I guarantee that by hook or by crook, it will not be western Canadian farmers who produce canola and whom the Bloc has identified as culprits in the GMO issue.”
He said a Canadian Alliance government would allow voluntary labeling as a marketing tool.
