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432-00374 (Environment)

Paper petition

Original language of petition: English

PETITION TO THE GOVERNMENT OF CANADA

THEREFORE, YOUR PETITIONERS call upon the Government of Canada to, for the sake of our bees and our food security, follow Europe's lead, and adhere to the precautionary principle by banning the use of neonicotinoids in Canada.

Response by the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food

Signed by (Minister or Parliamentary Secretary): The Honourable Marie-Claude Bibeau, PC, MP

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) works with beekeepers, federal and provincial officials, and other relevant groups to ensure that beekeeping is a successful industry in Canada. AAFC works nationally with provincial governments and other federal departments and agencies, as well as with industry representation from the beekeeping, honey, horticulture, grains, oilseeds, seeds, and crop protection sectors to consider issues affecting honeybee health. For example, in 2014 AAFC committed $1 million to Beekeepers Commission of Alberta to conduct a nationwide surveillance project to document the health profile of honeybee colonies in Canada. The project analyzed samples from beehives to determine the prevalence of pests and diseases. It also assessed hive contaminants in order to provide a national baseline of bee health challenges. AAFC also continues to conduct research on the complex issues of long-term bee health, including screening for the presence of neonicotinoids and other pesticide residues in pollen, honey, and beeswax, as well as research on native pollinators and the effects of other agricultural practices.

With over 700 native species in Canada, bees are the most common pollinators. Other pollinators include butterflies, moths, wasps, flies, and some types of beetles. Insect pollinators, including honeybees, are critical to the production of many crops and play an essential ecological role. Crops that depend on the work of pollinators include tree and berry fruit, canola, alfalfa, squash, and melon. In 2019, there were 10,344 beekeepers in Canada keeping 773,182 colonies of honeybees. This represents a 2.1 percent decrease in colonies over 2018, and an increase of 0.6 percent over the average of the previous four years. Each province has a provincial apiculturist who collects relevant data about beekeeping, including the levels of overwinter honeybee colony losses. The most recent data on overwinter losses shows that, for the winter of 2019-2020, the national average colony loss was 30.2 percent, with individual provincial percentage losses ranging from 16.9  to 40.5 percent. The overall colony loss reported in 2020 is in the higher range of reported losses since 2007.

Beekeeper-identified causes of over-winter colony loss were: weather, poor queens, starvation, followed by weak colonies in the fall. Colony population data shows a 34.8 percent increase in Canadian honeybee colonies since 2007; Canadian beekeepers continue to grow their beekeeping operations while working to address all factors that have an impact on bee health, monitoring and treating for pests and diseases, addressing nutrition challenges, and breeding and selecting bees that have superior pest and disease resistance.  

Pest control products are regulated in Canada through a federal and provincial regulatory network that delivers a program of pre-market scientific assessment, enforcement, education, and information dissemination. The registration and regulation of pesticides in Canada falls under the responsibility of Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) via the authority of the Pest Control Products Act.  In 2012, the PMRA  began re-evaluations of three neonicotinoids to address growing concerns around bee health. Health Canada issued proposed decisions for clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam in December 2017, May 2018, and December 2017, respectively, and consulted the public and stakeholders. All comments and information received during the consultation periods were considered and helped inform the proposed decisions.

These pollinator re-evaluations considered hundreds of scientific studies, from both manufacturers and published literature. In order to protect pollinators, Health Canada is cancelling many uses of neonicotinoids on crops that bees find attractive, such as orchard trees, and is not allowing spraying of some crops, such as berries and fruiting vegetables, before or during bloom. Seed treatment uses were found to be acceptable; however, Health Canada requires the addition of label statements for all cereal and legume crops to minimize exposure of pollinators to dust during planting of treated seeds. The implementation of these decisions is currently underway, and the required mitigation measures must be implemented on all product labels sold by registrants no later than  April 11, 2021. The PMRA’s decision to cancel the majority of outdoor uses of all three neonicotinoids because of the risk to aquatic insects has been delayed following the receipt of new scientific papers and additional information from the public, provinces, and the agriculture industry. The PMRA is currently reviewing the submitted information and plans to provide final decisions in spring 2021.

AAFC works closely with the PMRA to help ensure that pesticides, when used according to directions, do not pose any unacceptable risks to humans or other living things including beneficial insects, such as bees and other insect pollinators. AAFC will continue working with stakeholders so that they can protect and enhance our agricultural and natural assets and continue to prosper sustainably.

Response by the Minister of Health

Signed by (Minister or Parliamentary Secretary): Darren Fisher

The Government is committed to the health and safety of Canadians, their environment and their food supply.  Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) will continue to diligently ensure that only pest control products meeting our stringent health and environmental standards will be approved for use in Canada. Pesticides are regulated under the Pest Control Products Act, which is administered by Health Canada, to protect Canadians and their environment from risks associated with the use of pesticides.

Before a pesticide is allowed to be used or sold in Canada, it must undergo a rigorous scientific assessment process that provides reasonable certainty that no harm to human health or the environment will occur when pesticides are used according to label directions. Results from more than 200 types of scientific studies must be submitted to determine whether the pesticide would have any negative effect on people, animals (including birds, mammals, fish, aquatic invertebrates, bees and other beneficial arthropods), or plants, including organisms in the soil and water. The human health assessment takes into consideration sensitive populations, such as pregnant and nursing women, infants, children and seniors. 

Health Canada is aware of the importance of bees and the beekeeping industry to the production of food in Canada, as well as the issues regarding bee health, including concerns over the potential effect of chronic pesticide exposure. PMRA completes a risk assessment on bees for all outdoor and greenhouse use pesticides. Links to the Pollinator Risk Assessment Guidance, best management practices to protect pollinators when using pesticides and other information on how Health Canada protects pollinators are found on Health Canada’s Pollinator Protection webpage (www.canada.ca/pollinators).

There are a number of activities related specifically to neonicotinoid pesticides that have been undertaken by the PMRA, including activities to protect pollinators.

The PMRA has worked with stakeholders to develop measures to reduce risk to pollinators from exposure to dust generated during planting of insecticide-treated seed. These measures were developed in collaboration with the provinces, pesticide industry, international regulatory authorities, growers, beekeepers, and equipment manufacturers.

The PMRA implemented the following measures for the 2014 planting season for corn and soybean production:

  • mandatory use of a new dust-reducing seed flow lubricant;
  • adherence to identified safer seed planting practices; and,
  • enhanced warning statements on pesticide and seed package labels.

Since these measures have been put in place, the number of incidents has declined substantially. Monitoring continues and additional measures will be implemented if necessary.

Health Canada must periodically re-evaluate pesticides that are on the market to assess whether they continue to meet the Department’s health and environmental standards and hence, whether they should continue to be permitted for use in Canada. On April 11, 2019, Health Canada published the final pollinator-focused (bees) re-evaluations of the neonicotinoid pesticides clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam. To protect pollinators, Health Canada has cancelled some uses of clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam, and has added further restrictions to other uses. The extensive scientific re-evaluation of these neonicotinoid pesticides showed that under the newly established conditions of use, they do not pose unacceptable risks to the environment, including pollinator insects (bees).

Health Canada’s PMRA also participated in Agriculture and Agri-food Canada’s Bee Health Roundtable  in which stakeholders (including grower and beekeeping groups, the seed trade, pesticide and equipment industry associations, and federal and provincial governments) worked together to find comprehensive solutions that will improve pollinator health in Canada. This initiative examined all aspects of pollinator health, including agricultural pesticide use practices, with the goal of promoting pollinator health and positive interactions between the agricultural and beekeeping industries.

In addition, both federal and provincial governments have made investments in research to better understand and to maintain healthy bee populations, including funding for research geared towards optimizing the profitability of honeybee colonies and maintaining healthy bee populations, and for a national surveillance project to document the health profile of honeybee colonies in Canada. The Beekeepers Commission of Alberta in collaboration with the Manitoba Beekeepers Association is undertaking the National Honey Bee Health Survey project and will work closely with colleagues in other provinces as the project progresses, utilizing the National Bee Diagnostic Centre for sample analysis. The goal of the National Honey Bee Health Survey is to establish a bee health database in Canada to document the prevalence, intensity and distribution of pests, pathogens and chemical residues in Canadian honey bee colonies.  Phase I of the project has been completed (2014-2017), while Phase II (2019-2022) is underway. Reports are produced annually by the Federal Government, and are available in English and French at the following link: https://www.gprc.ab.ca/research/nbdc/index.html. Prior to initiation of the National Honey Bee Health Survey in Canada, surveillance of this nature had only been done at the regional level; the sector is seeking to expand co-ordination and identify issues that present challenges to bee health across the country.

Health Canada continues to monitor for new information related to neonicotinoids, including regulatory actions taken in other jurisdictions and will take appropriate action if risks to human health or the environment (including pollinators) are confirmed.

Presented to the House of Commons
Elizabeth May (Saanich—Gulf Islands)
December 8, 2020 (Petition No. 432-00374)
Government response tabled
January 25, 2021
Photo - Elizabeth May
Saanich—Gulf Islands
Green Party Caucus
British Columbia

Only validated signatures are counted towards the total number of signatures.