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House Hansard - 320

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 29, 2024 02:00PM
Context: House Hansard - 320 - May/29/24
Mr. Yves Perron
  • May/29/24 10:50:46 p.m.
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Madam Chair, times are tough right now due to climate change. Even scientists at the agency are concerned about emerging diseases caused by climate change and globalized markets. As the minister just mentioned, we need to be more efficient. At the same time, we need to ensure Canada's food resilience. That is fundamental. While we have a duty to take precautions, we also have a duty to prevent plant diseases so that we can supply our population with food. In terms of reciprocal standards, I would like to know how the minister can explain the two specific examples I am about to give. Last year, the formulation for linuron, a product used in growing carrots, was altered slightly. Canada's registration process was so slow that we almost ended up in a situation where our producers could not produce, and where we would have to import carrots from producers in the United States using the very same product. The concern here is efficiency. Turning now to beets, nortron was not approved this year. It was put forward as a replacement for another product that there was an issue with. nortron's application for approval was submitted 12 years ago. I do not think that is a reasonable timeline for a response. The application was not approved. I would like to remind the House that we are not calling into question the independence of the scientists or the precautionary principle, but 12 years seems rather ridiculous to me. Does the minister have a plan to increase transparency, communication and efficiency at the agency?
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