Agriculture committee  The actual cost they have to supply us for looking at a minor use is very small. It's in the range of $150. It's the cost of generating the data in Canada. If there's a Canada-specific data requirement, that's more of a barrier. That's where, again, Agriculture Canada under its

Agriculture committee  I don't think the goal of harmonization is simply reduced costs. As a regulator, I mentioned talking with scientists who were involved first-hand in the discussions with their colleagues. It builds their confidence. It builds their understanding. So from the very basic level of r

Agriculture committee  It's really beneficial to have the discussions directly with my U.S. colleagues. When we have the NAFTA meetings, Jim Jones, who's director of the EPA's office of pesticide programs, is there. They have the same issue. Americans don't want to lose their sovereignty. So we come at

Agriculture committee  The initial strategy for bringing the act into force was to have developed and to gazette essentially all of the new regulatory schemes authorized under the new act. Last year we developed a new strategy with stakeholders for implementation, recognizing the length of time it has

Agriculture committee  I think it was about a year ago that we initiated teleconference calls every four months with stakeholders interested in our re-evaluation program. The numbers of stakeholders interested in the status of re-evaluation, the timelines and what's happening, has grown. I think there

Agriculture committee  Again, there are some standards in Canada that Parliament has given us that are different from standards that Congress has given the U.S. EPA. That's outside my authority to change, and it's outside the authority of my colleague in the U.S. EPA. What we've committed to do is to

Agriculture committee  I don't know about the situation with respect to Chile. I do comment to stakeholders interested in the pesticide regulatory system that the new Pest Control Products Act, which was given royal assent in 2002 and was one of the outcomes of the pesticide review in 1990, requires a

Agriculture committee  Again, I can tell you quite clearly that whether or not you think an automatic yes is in our best interest will depend on what sector of the stakeholders you come from. But I can tell you that on the joint reviews, in every situation we've come to we can register, and we can regi

Agriculture committee  There are a number of reasons that situation could occur. Again, under both the current and the new act, our responsibility in approving pesticides in Canada is that we've addressed human health from a number of different perspectives. We have to look at occupational health and

Agriculture committee  One of the good indicators.... We had a NAFTA technical working group that met with stakeholders in Charleston last December. I actually had a number of American companies approach me and say, for the first time, that they were interested in bringing products to Canada. There had

Agriculture committee  That was before my time, so I will ask Richard if he has more information than I do. I know we have a graphic. My colleague has a few copies, so maybe he can give the clerk a copy. We'll provide it later in both languages with an explanation. It looks at time and registratio

Agriculture committee  It's the task force I referred to that's been examining the issues and coming to a consensus on making recommendations. I do think that the report will be coming out very shortly. As I understand it, the consensus is that the program should continue, but with some changes addres

Agriculture committee  I can ask my colleague Richard Aucoin to talk about comparability, in terms of the numbers of actives and new uses, and of the timelines with the United States and others, because he's much more familiar with the international environment than I am.

Agriculture committee  There are still a few areas for which we require information about the Canadian situation. One of them is the case of the residue trials. Residues left from a product used in a field in Quebec might be quite different from those left if the product were used in a field in Florida

Agriculture committee  There are huge challenges in organic farming. For example, Richard went to the US last month to meet with representatives of their organic pesticides sector. He has also met with the people from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. the Pest Management Centre, over the past year. T