Manitobans will be allowed to use whichever federally approved pesticide they’d like on their lawns if newly introduced rules are passed.
“We’ve heard from Manitobans and their concerns that current methods are ineffective,” said Jeff Wharton, the minister of environment, climate and parks in a March 14 news release.
“This legislation would help protect areas frequented by children and pets while allowing Manitobans to apply Health Canada-approved products safely and minimize overall environmental impacts,” he added.
Since 2014, Manitoba has restricted the use of synthetic pesticides under the Environment Act. On March 14, Wharton announced he’d introduced legislation to relax those rules.
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Under the act, unless they were used to destroy dangerous, invasive or noxious plants, homeowners couldn’t use synthetic pesticides. Sellers were required to ask what the pesticide would be used for and only sell it for legal uses.
Agriculture and gardens weren’t restricted by these rules.
An information sheet on the province’s website says the regulations were put in place to reduce chemical exposure among children and babies, pregnant women, the elderly, pets and other vulnerable groups.
If passed, Bill 22, the Environment Amendment Act, would remove the prohibition on the application of federally approved, synthetic pesticides to lawns as well as the prohibition on selling them for those purposes.
The bill also adds municipal playgrounds, picnic areas, dog parks and provincial parks to the list of places where those pesticides are prohibited.
They would be allowed in provincially deemed low-risk areas like boulevards and sidewalks.
Wharton said municipalities and other stakeholders asked for more flexibility so they could have “usable, esthetic green spaces in communities.”
The Association of Manitoba Municipalities also called for the relaxing of rules since 2015, it said in a March 15 news release. It welcomed the proposed bill and said it would ease financial pressure on some municipal governments.
Back in 2016, the province asked for public input on the pesticide rules. Over 2,100 comments were submitted — mostly from private citizens, but also from municipalities, organizations and businesses.
More than 60 per cent said the restrictions had negatively affected them, and about the same number said the laws were too strict. Almost 70 per cent said they wanted the restrictions relaxed or done away with.
Of respondents, only 15 per cent said they had full or basic understanding of the regulations. Thirty-five per cent said they had limited understanding, eight per cent said they had no understanding, and 42 per cent did not know or didn’t respond.
Back in 2019, CBC reported it wasn’t hard to buy pesticides like Roundup without being questioned. A September 2019 article said a CBC producer went to 10 big-box stores and found seven sold them Roundup without asking how it would be used.
The article says the province claimed a 2016 audit found a 96 per cent compliance rate.
“The intent of the law — which is to protect human health — won’t really be achieved unless there is active compliance with the regulations at the retail level,” Randall McQuaker told CBC, speaking in his role as pesticides director with the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment.
“Health Canada approves all cosmetic pesticides used in Canada, which must meet strict health and safety measures,” said Wharton in the news release. “Manitoba will continue to rely on Health Canada to evaluate pesticide products and all pesticides sold and used in Manitoba must be federally approved under the Pest Control Products Act.”
Under the current regulation, allowable pesticides include: acetic acid, citric acid, liquid or meal corn gluten, iron sulphate, lactic acid, soap, sodium chloride and sclerotinia minor.
