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COVER STORY

Memo to pesticide banning city council: Stand up to the threats

by Judi McLeod

May 19, 2003

A majority of Toronto City councillors are poised to capitulate to single interest groups when they debate the pesticide ban on May 21.

Even councillors convinced a ban on pesticides is the wrong way to go have admitted they’ll likely fold when the final vote is called in the council chamber.

Why?

"The special interest groups are well funded, organized and have been threatening to make us suffer in upcoming civic elections," councillors have told members of the lawn and garden industry, "off the record".

Should these councillors capitulate, Toronto City council will, in effect, dictate what you may or may not do on your own property.

The Coun. Joe Mihevc-led Toronto Board of Health has been requesting $450,000 annually to restrict private homeowners from maintaining their own properties. Translation: No weed and feed, no ant controls, no mosquito controls, no grub control.

In bowing to the pressure of single interest groups, city council will be putting the jobs of 10,000 lawn care-related professionals on the line.

"We use federally regulated and approved products that have undergone greater than 10 years of testing to the tune of millions of dollars," Lorraine Van Haastrecht of the Toronto Environmental Coalition told CanadaFreePress.com. "Health Canada has some 300 to 400 scientists to regulate these products and our industry is licensed and monitored by the Ministry of the Environment to boot."

In its continuing mission to placate single interest groups, the local health board has routinely demonized the lawn and garden industry. It has painted professionals in the industry with the broad brush of anti-environmentalism. This is largely undeserved portrayal given that like most other reasonable people, lawn and garden professionals display deep respect for Mother Earth.

Like in many political wars, the truth here was the first casualty. As an example, industry initiative of IPM Accreditation demands transparent third party audits of pesticide reductions for all certified companies.

In its burgeoning pesticide battle, the City of Toronto is creating an extra layer of bureaucracy. The use of pesticides is a federal issue and a third level of government is neither necessary nor capable of regulating pesticides.

Before, during and after implementation of the pesticide ban by Toronto City Council, products have remained--and will remain--on the shelves of home and garden centres.

The bylaw will open the way for a slew of side wrangles as it encourages home remedies; the city’s enforced "snitchline" is destined to pit neighour against neighbour.

When the bylaw is implemented, it will become a crime to maintain your property to your own standards and subsequently property values will decrease.

Ironically, the Toronto Board of Health has exercised the well-touted "precautionary principle" as the spirit for passing the bylaw, while objecting to the World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) same precautionary principle to have travelers avoid Toronto as a destination due to the SARS risk.

With its pesticide ban, the city is moving on to the well-traversed road of permits, as permits will then be required to maintain your own property--yet another municipal money grab.

Lost in the city’s poisoned portrayal of landscape professionals are some germane facts, such as how the industry educates its clients John to water, cut and seed their properties in order to reduce the possibility of pest and weed infestations. In the event of pesticides being required--they are applied only when needed at the right time, in the appropriate method and by licensed applicators.

Individual councillors who usually show common sense are in between a rock and a hard place on this issue. They dread the reaction of the single interest groups, while at the same time they’re cognizant of the fact that the lawn and garden industry has a proven track record for professional responsibility.

Will council buckle on Wednesday?

Canadafreepress.com predicts that councillors will vote to defer, thereby choosing not to deal with the pesticide ban until after municipal Election Day on Nov. 10.

There’s one very good reason why councillors should face off with single interest leaders and take it on the chin:

The fear councillors have of single interest groups such as the Toronto Environmental Alliance is ill founded.

Forty-three of 44 incumbent councillors were returned to their seats in the 2000 municipal election. Incumbents have a decided advantage over opponents in municipal elections and will be returned to city hall on November 10.

John Q. Public knows that on May 21, there is no reasonable excuse for councillors not to do the right thing.

Canada Free Press founding editor Most recent by Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck. Judi can be reached at: judi@canadafreepress.com


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