Pesticide Free? Oui!

Résumé du livre

Since publication of our 2008 report Pesticide Free? Oui! An analysis of Quebec's Pesticides Management Code and recommendations for effective provincial policy (Équiterre and David Suzuki Foundation), several Canadian provinces have followed Quebec's lead and have banned the cosmetic use of pesticides. While provincial cosmetic pesticide bans generally share a common purpose - the protection of health and/or the environment from needless exposure to pesticides - the approach varies considerably from province to province. In this update, we present a comparison of current provincial actions to ban cosmetic pesticides and identify the most promising approaches. Building on the findings of our earlier report, this analysis aims to bring to the attention of decision-makers the lessons learned from recent policy innovation in this arena and highlight the best available models. Our conclusions are particularly relevant for Quebec, which led the way with the first provincial ban on lawn pesticides in 2003 but has now fallen behind other provinces, and for British Columbia, where the government is considering the results of a public consultation that favoured a provincial ban - as well as for other provinces that may consider adopting or strengthening prohibitions on cosmetic pesticides. The first section of this report briefly presents the approaches adopted by the five Canadian provinces that currently restrict the use and sale of cosmetic pesticides: Quebec, Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island, as well as Alberta's more limited restriction on pesticide/fertilizer mixtures. We also review the process to date in British Columbia. We then assess the strengths and weaknesses of the different provincial frameworks and highlight the best models, corresponding to the recommendations made in our 2008 report.