Federal Cabinet Gives Itself Power to Sidestep Regulations, Including on Pesticides
Safe Food Matters President Mary Lou McDonald joined veteran broadcaster Keith Wiley recently on The Ecocentric Radio Show to discuss the federal government’s new powers to sidestep regulations, including those affecting pesticides and environmental protections.
The conversation examines recent legislative changes that could allow federal cabinet to override certain regulatory requirements, raising important questions about transparency, democratic oversight and the future of Canada’s regulatory system.
Drawing on Safe Food Matters’ ongoing work to hold Health Canada accountable for pesticide decisions, McDonald also discusses the organization’s ongoing glyphosate litigation, which challenges Health Canada’s regulation of glyphosate and raises broader concerns about Canada’s pesticide approval process and regulatory oversight. The conversation explores why these issues matter for Canadians and what the new legislation could mean for environmental and public health protections.
🎧 Click on image to listen to the Interview:
Hosted by Keith Wiley on The Ecocentric Radio Show, Canada’s longest-running
environmental news radio broadcast, with a West …Read More
Public interest groups slam changes to federal pesticide law as unwarranted, dangerous and undemocratic
Amendments buried in Bill C-30 weaken environmental protections
JUNE 17, 2026 — OTTAWA | TRADITIONAL AND UNCEDED TERRITORY OF THE ALGONQUIN ANISHINAABE NATION — Public interest organizations denounce amendments to Canada’s Pest Control Products Act included in the government’s omnibus financial bill, as Bill C-30 moves to the final vote in the House of Commons. The bill is being expedited through Parliament, after motions passed earlier this week curtailing debate and amendments.
The changes to Canada’s pesticide law in Bill C-30, along with others introduced in a separate budget implementation bill (C-31), represent the largest overhaul of Canada’s pesticide regulatory system in a generation. This comes as the government is also proposing to weaken key environmental standards under the Species at Risk Act and Impact Assessment Act. A broad coalition of organizations concerned with protecting human health and the environment, advocates for evidence-informed decision-making, and independent scientists have called for the pesticide act amendments to be …Read More
How Canada Keeps Toxic Pesticides on the Market
Canada’s proposed pesticide reforms move in the wrong direction.
By Bruce Lanphear
The following essay was published on May 22 as an OpEd in The Hill Times, a widely read independent newspaper in Ottawa that covers Parliament, federal politics, and public policy. It comes at a moment when Canada is beginning to rethink how it regulates toxic chemicals and pesticides.
While the United States allows the sale of chlorpyrifos and paraquat, Canada banned chlorpyrifos in 2023 and discontinued paraquat shortly afterward. These decisions reflect a growing recognition that some chemicals once considered acceptable carry costs that are measured not only in crop yields, but in children’s brains, chronic disease, and the long-term health of communities.
For more than half a century, pesticides like chlorpyrifos and paraquat were used in Canada under regulations that were supposed to protect human health. Yet one is now known to damage children’s brains, while the other increases the risk of Parkinson’s disease. If …Read More
Safe Food Matters Says Changes to Pesticide Law are Unscientific and Undemocratic
Safe Food Matters joins other health, environmental, legal and agricultural organizations urging the federal government to remove proposed amendments to the Pest Control Products Act (PCPA) from Bill C-30 and Bill C-31.
The groups warn that the changes weaken scientific and democratic accountability. They weaken Canada’s pesticide oversight system, reduce independent scientific scrutiny, and give politicians greater influence over decisions traditionally guided by scientific evidence.
The PCPA is the federal law that governs how pesticides are assessed, registered and regulated in Canada. Since 2002, the PCPA has been guided by a core principle: pesticides should only be approved when it has been shown with scientific evidence that NO HARM would arise to people, the environment or future generations from their use.
The amendments proposed in Bills C-30 and C-31 would represent the most significant overhaul of Canada’s pesticide regulatory framework in a generation.
What Would Change?
Among the most concerning proposals:
Bill C-30: Allows Political Whims to …Read More
