Green Party of PEI

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DEMAND LAWN PESTICIDE BAN IN PEI

Media Release

Wednesday January 13, 2010

Cabinet shuffle bad news for environment and human health

Millvale – Premier Ghiz’s cabinet shuffle is bad news for the environment and human health. According to the premier, the shuffle is designed to “ better reflect government’s priorities over the next few years”.  The promotion of potato producer and Minister of Agriculture George Webster to deputy premier is a clear signal the Ghiz government intends to ramp up support for industrial agriculture, said Green party leader Sharon Labchuk.

“This appointment comes on the heels of the release of the Commission on Land Use and Local Governance which recommends increased support for industrial agriculture and an exemption for large corporate farms to own more land than what is allowed under the Lands Protection Act,” says Labchuk.  “And last month lawn pesticide legislation was passed that does nothing but ban one pesticide and numerous organic products.  After all these years of Islanders lobbying and complaining about contaminated groundwater and air, this is what they get.”

Labchuk says it was the Liberal government of the 1980’s, under Premier Joe Ghiz, that encouraged the potato industry through subsidies to expand potato acreage by 70% with a corresponding increase in chemical fertilizer and pesticide use..

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Letter to the Editor

The Guardian (Prince Edward Island)

Tuesday December 22, 2009

Page A7

Editor:

Imagine Environment Minister Richard Brown sitting at his desk with two piles of paper in front of him. One pile is the Ontario legislation banning 85 pesticide active ingredients for use on lawns and gardens. The other pile is the New Brunswick legislation banning just one pesticide. What to do, he wonders.

By then, Minister Brown has already received a petition from 4,200 Islanders asking for a ban on cosmetic pesticides. And public hearings held by his government resulted in more than 150 presentations from individuals and organizations representing thousands of Islanders demanding a ban.

Well, we all know what Minister Brown decided to do. Instead of opting to copy Ontario's legislation or do even better, he completely betrayed Islanders. He copied New Brunswick's legislation. Why would he do this? Why would he not follow Ontario's example and protect children, pets, wildlife, groundwater and waterways from these dangerous poisons?
 

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Wednesday Augus 6, 2008

Published in the Eastern Graphic and the West Prince Graphic

THE VIEW FROM HERE...

by Jack MacAndrew

" We swam in it, we boated on it , we dug clams and we ate the clams. I wouldn't dare eat a clam out of it now . "....

Eleanor Cooke , talking about the Wheatley River.

Nor , Ms. Cooke , are you likely to find a living clam to steam.

One of the more surprising aspects of all the headlines about anoxic rivers, estuaries and bays recently appearing in the public prints , is that anyone should be at all surprised at what is happening .

On the other hand , not in the least surprising , is the extraordinarily lame response from the current Minister of the Environment , George Webster . As usual , Mr. Webster's Pavlovian response to queries about this smelly environmental mess , was to advise people not to blame farm runoff for the killing of the Island's waterways.

Sorry Georgie Boy - it just don't wash - so to speak.. As far back as a decade or more ago , and more recently in the current readings of Island groundwater , there is uncontrovertable truth to be faced. The fact is - when rivers , streams and brooks run through potato country , they end up loaded with nitrates: when they run through forested or fallow terrain , the readings are much lower , down where we should expect them to be . (more . . .)