Federal health minister Anne McLellan says the Pest Management
Regulatory Agency needs more money if it is going to be asked to do a
better job.
During an appearance before the House of Commons health committee to
defend her proposed new pesticides act, McLellan said the act will
require more of the agency, including making more information public
and reviewing every pesticide within 15 years of its registration.
“There will be increased resources for the PMRA,” she told MPs already
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skeptical about the agency’s efficiency and performance.
“We will be putting additional resources into this. That is part and
parcel of the reform of pesticide legislation.”
McLellan did not say how much more money will be made available.
PMRA director Claire Franklin told MPs the agency will be able to meet
expectations.
“We have done a careful analysis of this and anticipate … we will be
able to deliver.”
The new legislation will require publication of more information about
the safety and characteristics of pesticides approved for sale, require
more rigorous testing to make sure vulnerable populations such as
children and pregnant women are not put at risk, and make sure that
older chemicals are tested to assess if they still are acceptable and
if there are less toxic alternatives available.
McLellan also repeated a promise that agriculture minister Lyle
Vanclief will soon announce that Canadian farmers will get more access
to minor use chemicals that are available in the United States.
The House of Commons has approved the legislation in principle and sent
it on to the health committee.
Committee chair Bonnie Brown said MPs will work hard to review the bill
and get it back to the Commons by mid-May for final debate and referral
to the Senate.
The government sees some urgency in getting the legislation approved
quickly because the Commons adjourns in late June for more than two
months and there are rumours that a new parliamentary session will
begin in the fall with a new throne speech. Bills that aren’t approved
by both the Commons and Senate will die if a new session is started.
While the new legislation has drawn wide support in principle from
opposition MPs, criticism continues to focus on the PMRA.
Critics in Parliament have argued that it is too bureaucratic and not
aggressive enough in efforts to make sure Canadian farmers have access
to the same pesticides as do their American competitors.
In mid-April, a task force of Liberal MPs and senators told prime
minister Jean Chrétien and the Liberal caucus that critics are not
only on the opposition benches.
The Liberal caucus task force on agriculture said “substantial changes”
are needed in the PMRA’s operations to make it “more transparent,
responsive, timely and more harmonized with the standards of (other
industrialized countries).”
