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April 26, 2000
Halifax goes slow on pesticide ban
By STEVE MAICH -- Halifax Chronicle Herald
Halifax regional council decided Tuesday to proceed with a phased-in pesticide
ban, which city staff warned will be virtually unenforceable.
After more than two hours of debate on the proposed pesticide bylaw, council
overruled a staff recommendation to ban residential lawn and garden spraying
starting next March.
Instead council will begin debate at the end of May on a bylaw to gradually
phase out chemical pesticides over four years.
The decision left people on both sides of the pesticide debate unhappy.
"What's clear from tonight's session is that a bunch of information was missing
and yet a lot of the councillors have already made up their minds," said Wendy
Rose, a lobbyist from the Urban Pest Management Council who flew in from
Ontario for the meeting.
"They're letting a very small number of people make a serious decision for
everyone else."
Coun. Graham Read said he was getting fed up with all the delays and wants to
see the chemicals banned sooner rather than later.
But his motion to enact a complete ban beginning next March was soundly
defeated.
"The delay-and-spray gang have been very successful delaying this issue for
months," Mr. Read said. "Let's do the right thing, get on with this and send it
to a public hearing."
If the proposed bylaw passes, the first two years will see pesticide spraying
prohibited within 100 metres of homes belonging to people who suffer serious
medical reactions to the chemicals. Spraying within 100 metres of schools and
day cares would also be banned.
In the third year, the ban would be expanded to include most public buildings,
including churches, hospitals, parks and universities.
The fourth year would see a complete ban on the spraying of pesticides on
residential and municipal property. Until then, several other rules would limit
spraying over the next three years.
Homeowners would require written permission from neighbours in order to spray
within two metres of the property line.
Spraying would also be prohibited in rainy, hot or windy conditions.
Staff said all the rules would be extremely difficult and costly to enforce.
"We believe this system will be unreliable," said Paul Dunphy, one of the
employees who helped draft the pesticide report, and who argued strongly for a
simple, outright ban.
"Council can expect gaps in enforcement (during the phase-in). We don't think we
can be very effective in this area."
Staff said that if a pesticide ban were simply set to take place on a given
future date, the city could have saved up to $200,000 in start-up costs and
$100,000 in annual administration costs.
Council decided staff's approach was too heavy-handed.
Coun. Steve Streatch (Eastern shore-Musquodoboit Valley) argued strongly against
any sort of ban. At one point, he fixed an icy stare on anti-pesticide
campaigners in the gallery who were laughing at his comments.
"So-called environmentalists and well-organized left-wing lobby groups have
started to hijack the process," he said.
In the end, council decided that if there is going to be a ban on pesticides in
the municipality then it will come in gradually.
The proposed bylaw will go to a public hearing near the end of May. Council will
then hold final debate and a vote in early June.
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