b'Emilie, can you give us some important back- Could these restrictions get worse?ground on how these chemistries are regulatedRight now, there are five active ingredients and why the Quebec situation is so unique? on the list, but the government of Quebec is In Canada, pesticides are regulated byconsidering adding more. We fully support federal, provincial and municipal entities.stewardship initiatives that support best man-Emilie Bergeron They are regulated at the federal level byagement practices, such as training on proper Vice-PresidentHealth Canadas Pest Management Regulatorystorage and handling of pesticides and the Chemistry, Agency (PMRA), which is responsible for thedisposal of any unused or expired pesticides.CropLife Canada registration and the re-evaluation of pesti- However special prescriptions and agronomic cides. Provinces also have the authority toassessments that apply to a few active ingre-regulate pesticides, traditionally in the areasdients imposes additional costs and regula-of transportation, storage and licencing. Sometory burdens. like Quebec have decided to impose addi-tional restrictions on the use of pesticides.How are retailers impacted?In Quebec pesticides are regulatedPesticide retailers in Quebec have the obli-under the provincial Pesticide Act and thegation to report their sales of pesticides to Environmental Quality Act. For those who arethe province on an annual basis, which has familiar with the European approach to pesti- proven to be quite challenging and an admin-cides, you will find some similarities betweenistrative burden. the Quebec and the European approach, both of which are very politically driven. QuebecHow is the wider industry affected?is following closely the path Europe has takenFor the Quebec ag industry, a number of on a hazard-based approach rather than risk- consequences have resulted. First of all, they based evaluations. Hazard-based evaluationslimit grower access to safe and efficient crop of pesticides focus on their toxicity ratherprotection tools that have been approved as than the real risk they represent based onsafe by the PMRA. They also cause additional how theyre used. The Quebec approach toburden on retailers as well as for producers pesticides appears to be driven by the objec- and negatively affect the competitiveness of tive to arbitrarily reduce the overall amountthe Quebec agriculture industry. of pesticide use in the province.We agree that sustainable agriculture isWhat are some potential long-term impacts?the objective.How we can best support thatIn the long term, if these measures get more objective is by continuously improving therestrictive, it could certainly impact the avail-sectors best management practices, includingability of some crop protection tools in the the judicious use of pesticides when neces- province. Also, the approach adopted by sary, not by arbitrary targets that may notQuebec and the position of its government reflect the agronomic pressures in any givenand the Quebec public could influence policy crop year.beyond Quebec. We saw this in 2021 when in reaction to an increase in media atten-How did Quebec get these restrictions? tion in Quebec regarding a proposal by the After more than 20 years of regulatory actionsPMRA to increase certain maximum residue to reduce the amount of pesticide use inlimits (MRLs) (especially for glyphosate), the province, in 2010 the province decidedthree ministers from the federal government that more measures were needed in ordercame together and made an announcement to to allow for faster reduction of pesticidepause all MRL increases until the spring 2022 use. Through its water monitoring program,without any scientific justification of any sort, the province was detecting the presence ofand asked for changes to the PMRAs world-pesticides in water surrounding agriculturalleading regulatory process. production regions in the province. BecauseWe have also seen more provinces con-of its hazard-based approach, the sole pres- sidering whether additional measures were ence of pesticides in watersheds in Quebec isneeded, like in New Brunswick where they considered an issue by the government with- reviewed the use of glyphosate, and British out consideration given to the potential risk itColumbia is now mulling a ban on the use of actually represents to aquatic life.certain rodenticides as well. MARCH 2022 GERMINATION.CA 41'