In the community section of this website is dedicated to informing Pickering residents of the issues Councillor O’Connell supports and the legislation she is working to have implemented. Issues and legislation appear as threads (often accompanied with downloads and related links) organized from the most recent date of issue to least recent date of issue.
 

Pesticide ban gets a little closer
Tue Nov 13, 2007
By: By Kristen Calis

PICKERING -- It's time to use a little elbow grease and stop using pesticides, says a Pickering City councillor.

Ward 1 City Councillor Jennifer O'Connell has been pushing for the ban on pesticides since she was elected to Council. She gave a number of reasons why pesticides should be banned, including the cause of various of cancers, low birth weight, sterility and toxic breast milk.

"I don't care what anybody says," she said in an interview. "It doesn't matter if you're accredited or not. When you spray them, you have no control where the air or the water will take it. And I think that everyone has a fundamental right not to be exposed to these chemicals."

The long-awaited pesticide use draft bylaw came before Executive Committee on Monday night and was passed for consultation. There wasn't much debate on the issue, and it will be brought to Council next week. If passed there, staff will consult the public in a variety of ways - through questionnaires and a town hall meeting for example - where changes can be made before the bylaw is passed. Golf courses and areas within a hydro corridor are currently exempted, which Coun. O'Connell does not agree with and hopes is changed before the
bylaw is passed. The dates of enforcement in the draft bylaw are: March 25, 2008 for commercial applicators and Jan. 1, 2009 for everyone else.

Mayor Dave Ryan agreed with the dates "so they have an understanding very early that this is where the municipality is going." He doesn't want providers ordering products they can't use and noted that even if they can return it to the supplier, they're usually charged with restocking fees.

City staff fears the difficulty of enforcing the bylaw, and noted possible problems in its report to the committee. Staff believes that although banning pesticides coincides with sustainable Pickering principles, having a municipal bylaw officer prove the contents of the pesticides being applied could be difficult. A complaint from a neighbour simply watching somebody use them won't cut it, and even if the officer watches someone apply the pesticides, it will be difficult for them to gather samples.

But Coun. O'Connell noted the same difficulties could be associated with the noise bylaw, for example, and said there are many pesticide alternatives readily available.

"I think there's never going to be a perfect bylaw, but I think by banning companies from spraying this and telling individuals that they're not supposed to either, I think a good majority of people won't, and I think that's what's key," she said.

Coun. O'Connell hopes for a complete ban across the province, which would prevent retailers from selling the product, but that will be up to the provincial government.

City staff currently uses organic fertilizers, proper mowing and aeration, an irrigation system and regular de-thatching, which has reduced its own use of pesticides.