Evidence of meeting #44 for Agriculture and Agri-Food in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was corn.
A recording is available from Parliament.
5:05 p.m.
Conservative
Bob Zimmer Conservative Prince George—Peace River, BC
I think I'm done on time, but do you have the name of that study? It's a CFIA study, though, is that correct?
5:05 p.m.
Owner, Ferguson Apiaries
No, it's actual testing from the bees that have been killed in Ontario. It's the results of the—
5:05 p.m.
President, Munro Honey & Munro's Meadery
It's Health Canada, “Re: Bee Incident Sampling Results - 2012”.
5:05 p.m.
Conservative
Bob Zimmer Conservative Prince George—Peace River, BC
But, again, just because a certain item is present on a bee doesn't mean it necessarily killed it. That's what I'm saying. I think what we need to see, though, is that there's a cause and effect here.
5:05 p.m.
Owner, Ferguson Apiaries
Yes, they were poisoned with an overdose and they died.
5:05 p.m.
Conservative
Bob Zimmer Conservative Prince George—Peace River, BC
Is that what the study states or is that your opinion?
5:05 p.m.
Owner, Ferguson Apiaries
Well, they know it takes two nanograms to kill them. From one of the other studies I read—I think it was the EPA—they were finding it higher than that on them.
5:05 p.m.
Conservative
Bob Zimmer Conservative Prince George—Peace River, BC
If a report can be filed that we can have a look at that has that cause and effect to it, then we'd be definitely interested in seeing it.
5:05 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Larry Miller
Larry Miller, or you can get all the members of committee and send it to them as well, for information.
But Mr. Bryans, you were in the process of saying you got the results of what killed your bees. Isn't that what you were saying?
5:05 p.m.
President, Munro Honey & Munro's Meadery
It just says right here, “Clothianidin is known to be toxic to bees, however, a number of other factors must still be considered before a final conclusion”. So they're still....
5:05 p.m.
Conservative
5:05 p.m.
Conservative
Bob Zimmer Conservative Prince George—Peace River, BC
If you would, it would be for the benefit of us in the committee if you would pass that along to us when it's complete, because I think it's important that we treat it as specifically as possible and get to the bottom of it.
5:05 p.m.
President, Munro Honey & Munro's Meadery
I'd like to know when this might be completed. How are we going to rush this process?
5:05 p.m.
Conservative
Bob Zimmer Conservative Prince George—Peace River, BC
I don't know. This is the first time I've that heard that this study was even being performed. I just want to know, bottom line—
5:05 p.m.
President, Munro Honey & Munro's Meadery
It was a test from Health Canada. They tested our samples.
5:05 p.m.
Conservative
Bob Zimmer Conservative Prince George—Peace River, BC
But you just said there are still other issues that couldn't be excluded yet.
5:05 p.m.
President, Munro Honey & Munro's Meadery
Yes, they tested for the poisons that were on the seed. They found that clothianidin was on the bees and on the corn, the same stuff.
5:05 p.m.
Conservative
Bob Zimmer Conservative Prince George—Peace River, BC
It is important for our committee to see that there is a deliberate cause and effect. We need CFIA, or whoever it is, to give us that data.
5:05 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Larry Miller
Thanks, Mr. Zimmer.
Just in closing, further to my question or comment before, you referred to it being banned in Europe. I certainly need to know, and probably everybody on the committee would like to know, did they ban it over there because they found it to be the cause? I don't doubt that something like this is killing the bees. It is probably exactly what you are saying, but no matter what you do, it has to be based on science.
Mr. Bryans, your report on the bees that you had sampled came back not conclusive, and that doesn't help your case. I'm being the devil's advocate—
5:05 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Larry Miller
Of course, I know you do. I appreciate that, and I'm sure everybody here does.
You can't react on suspicion. I don't doubt what you say is probably true, but it has to be based on science. I think that sometimes takes a lot longer than any of us likes, but I would suggest that your organizations—your Canadian group that Mr. Scarlett belongs to, whatever avenue—push for that testing and when you have conclusive results.... I'm not saying what should be done at that point, but at least you have something you can bring forward.
With that, I'd like to thank all of you for coming.
Mr. Scarlett, thanks for joining us by video conference. To the rest of you, thank you very much for coming to Ottawa. We appreciate that.