This petition is a follow-up to responses provided by the Minister of Health to petitions 473, 473C, and 473D.
The petition raises concerns over Health Canada’s changing interpretation of the Dragnet FT pesticide label, which prohibits application on crops or weeds where bees are actively foraging. The petition states that the minister previously confirmed that all bees are protected under pesticide label requirements enforceable by the Pest Control Products Act. However, the petition indicates that in a later response, the minister suggested that the inadvertent spraying of some blooming weeds may harm a small number of individual bees and pollinators, but it is unlikely to cause population-level impacts on them when Dragnet FT is used as directed. Furthermore, the Pest Management Regulatory Agency indicated that precautionary statements about flowering weeds were recommended guidelines and not enforceable directions. The petition argues that this contradicts section 6(5)(b) of the Pest Control Products Act, the minister’s previous response, and the Dragnet FT label prohibition.
The petition asks whether the minister will confirm and enforce the legal prohibition on spraying flowering weeds with Dragnet FT to protect pollinators, clarify enforcement criteria such as what constitutes significant flowering, and ensure that the rule applies throughout the flowering period. In addition, the petition asks whether the minister will commit to prohibiting the treatment of flowering weeds with permethrin, as indicated on the Dragnet FT label, to align with Target 7 of Canada’s 2030
Nature Strategy.