441-00015 (Environment)

Pesticide Regulation

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. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) works closely with the PMRA to help ensure that pesticides, when used according to directions, do not pose any unacceptable risks to humans and beneficial insects such as bees and other insect pollinators.  

Beekeeping in Canada

Each province has a provincial apiculturist who collects relevant data about beekeeping and honey production, including the population of honey bee colonies and number of beekeepers. This data shows that, in 2021, the second year marked by significant COVID-19 related challenges to agriculture, there were 13,105 beekeepers in Canada keeping a record high 810,496 colonies of honey bees. This represents a 9 percent increase in beekeepers over the previous year and a 6 percent increase in colonies over the previous year. Colony population data shows a 37 percent increase in Canadian honey bee colonies since 2007.

Canadian beekeepers continue to work diligently to grow their beekeeping operations while addressing external and internal factors affecting bee health. With over 700 native species in Canada, bees are the most common pollinators among others including 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 and AAFC is committed to their protection.  

AAFC Support for Bee Health

AAFC also works with beekeepers, federal and provincial governments, as well as with industry representation from the beekeeping, honey, horticulture, grains, oilseeds, seeds and crop protection sectors to consider issues affecting honeybee health.  Recent government investments have been dedicated to support cost-shared programs for beekeepers, joint research initiatives and for a national surveillance project:

• Through the Canadian Agricultural Partnership, AAFC works with the provinces to co-fund activities that support environmental sustainability, including bee health. For example, Ontario’s Honey Bee Health Management initiative funds beekeeper operational improvements for the purpose of reducing biosecurity risks, overwinter loss and the spread of honey bee pests and disease.

• Among other projects, AAFC scientists are currently engaged in a Large Scale Applied Genomics Research Project along with several Canadian Universities to develop a new real-time bee health assessment and diagnosis platform using stressor-specific bio-markers. Valued at almost $10 million, this project is known as “BeeCSI” and measures gene expression in bees subjected to various pests, parasites and pesticides in both laboratory and field settings, in order to detect unique and detectable signatures of stress. By discovering expression biomarkers specifically related to pesticide exposure, including those from neonicotinoid insecticides, AAFC scientists are developing tools to more rapidly detect the effects of pesticides on honey bees thereby enabling more proactive management of bee health.

• AAFC is funding the National Honey Bee Health Survey project in which the Beekeepers Commission of Alberta and the Manitoba Beekeepers Association are working closely with colleagues in other provinces to establish a bee health database. Utilizing the National Bee Diagnostic Centre for sample analysis, the goal of this project is to document, in Canada, 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 Government of Canada, and are available at the following link: https://www.gprc.ab.ca/research/nbdc/index.html. Prior to the National Honey Bee Health Survey in Canada, surveillance of this nature had only been done at the regional level. The sector is continuously seeking to expand co-ordination and identify issues that present challenges to bee health across the country. 

The future

On August 4^th, 2021, the Ministers of Health, Agriculture and Agri-Food and, Environment and Climate Change announced a review of the Pest Control Products Act to ensure the pesticide approval process meets the expectations of Canadians regarding transparency and sustainability. They also announced an investment of $7 million to accelerate research, development and the adoption of alternative pest management solutions.

The Minister’s renewed mandate highlighted support for food producers who choose alternative pest management approaches that reduce the need for chemical pesticides.

AAFC will continue to support the PMRA’s rigorous, science-based evaluations of pesticides while working closely with stakeholders to protect and enhance our agricultural and natural assets, including bee populations. This will ensure that the agricultural sector continues to prosper sustainably.

Our government is committed to the health and safety of Canadians, their food supply, and the environment. Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) will continue diligently ensuring 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 (PCPA), to protect Canadians and the environment from risks associated with the use of pesticides.

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 pesticides. Departmental scientists collaborate with scientists from universities and other organizations to determine whether specific pesticides are contributing to pollinator declines.

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 and the environment will occur when it is used according to label directions. Depending on the type of pesticide being evaluated, results from up to 200 scientific studies (or in some cases more) may be required to determine whether the pesticide would have any negative effect on people, animals (including beneficial insects, such as pollinators like bees), or plants, including organisms in the soil and water.

Health Canada must also periodically re-evaluate pesticides that are on the market to determine whether they continue to meet the Department’s current health and environmental standards and hence, whether they should continue to be permitted for use in Canada. 

Health Canada has conducted several post-market reviews of neonicotinoid pesticides in recent years which have resulted in the implementation of a number of mitigation measures. In 2019, Health Canada published pollinator-focused (e.g., bees) re-evaluation decisions for clothianidin, imidacloprid, and thiamethoxam. In order to protect pollinators, Health Canada cancelled several uses of these pesticides and added further restrictions to other uses, such as prohibiting spraying of some crops before or during bloom. It should be noted that these decisions were made following the consideration of a large variety of published independent scientific data, including those reviewed by other internationally recognized regulatory agencies such as the European Union.

The full re-evaluations for clothianidin and thiamethoxam have also been initiated and Health Canada is targeting to publish the proposed re-evaluation decisions by spring 2023 for public 90-day consultation, as indicated in the published PMRA Re-evaluation and Special Review Work Plan 2021-2026. The Department will consider all comments received during this consultation period before finalizing its decisions. These full re-evaluations will also include looking at any new scientific data relating to potential impacts on pollinator insects (e.g., bees), that have been published since Health Canada's 2019 pollinator-focused re-evaluation decisions.

On June 29, 2021, Health Canada published its Proposed Special Review Decision for the potential environmental risk related to squash bee exposure to clothianidin, thiamethoxam, and imidacloprid used on cucurbits for a public consultation period, which closed on August 13, 2021. Scientific assessments have shown that when these neonicotinoids are used on cucurbits, the risks are considered acceptable when applied according to the mitigation measures described in the 2019 pollinator re-evaluation decisions of these pesticides, which have already been implemented. Health Canada is targeting to publish its final decision by spring 2022. 

It is important to note that scientific data and information considered during these scientific evaluations may come from a variety of sources, such as from registrants, federal and provincial governments, academia and the research community, other internationally recognized regulatory agencies, as well as a large body of published, independent scientific studies. When the science-based assessment indicates that potential risk to human health or the environment is not acceptable when risk management measures are applied, Health Canada will cancel either specific uses or all uses of a pesticide, depending on the assessment. When all uses of a pesticide are cancelled, the pesticide is phased-out from the Canadian market.

Health Canada cannot speak to the decision-making process in other countries with regards to neonicotinoids, as each country takes into account its own legislative requirements, policies, and scientific analysis before making a decision. Nevertheless, Health Canada continues to monitor for new information related to neonicotinoid pesticides, including regulatory action taken by other governments and will take appropriate action if there are reasonable grounds to believe that use of the products is resulting in risks of concern to human health or the environment.