“I want the government to remove a part of this budget bill. It lets the Prime Minister bring back banned pesticides by overruling Health Canada's scientific decisions.”

“Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is overstepping once again. He wants to be able to re-authorize, by order in council, pesticides that have been banned on scientific grounds. In a provision buried in the omnibus budget Bill C‑30, he wants to give himself the right to overturn Health Canada’s decisions by invoking undefined concepts such as economic security. Researchers and health and environmental organizations are unanimous: this is an anti-science measure serving the interests of large agrochemical companies. They are here today to ask for one thing. Will the government remove this provision from Bill C‑30?”

“This bill lets banned pesticides be approved again. I want to know why the Minister of Health is protecting pesticide companies instead of public health.”

“Mr. Speaker, the Liberals are hiding a measure in Bill C‑30 that allows pesticides banned for scientific reasons to be re-authorized. This is the biggest setback since the Pest Control Products Act was created in 2002. Not only is the Minister of Health not upset about this, she even boasted that she was the only minister to ever attend a CropLife Canada event. CropLife Canada is an association of agrochemical companies that includes the pesticide giant Bayer. Why is the Minister of Health standing up for the profits of multinationals instead of standing up for public health?”