Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Ladies and gentlemen of the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food, good afternoon.
Let us be clear from the outset: Protecting the health and safety of workers and consumers, as well as protecting the environment, are key issues. We must remain extremely vigilant at all times.
Let us also be clear that the scientific independence of the Pest Management Regulatory Agency, or PMRA, must be recognized, maintained and unquestionable. However, the agency must demonstrate transparency, diligence and proactivity.
In fact, the greater the scientific independence, the more transparent the process must be and the more clearly justified the decisions must be.
Access to plant protection products is necessary to control pests and ensure food security. For this reason, the Association des producteurs maraîchers du Québec (APMQ) works closely with the Quebec Ministry of Agriculture and promotes emergency registration applications.
The APMQ also identifies the needs of the entire Quebec horticultural sector. For registration extensions, it collaborates in providing the information required by the PMRA.
Scientific independence and transparency, I repeat, also come with a receptiveness to new information to be taken into account in the registration of plant protection products. This new information may include monitoring data, field studies and usage information. The PMRA must assess the impact of its decisions on the day-to-day activities of a produce farmer.
While other jurisdictions, such as the United States and the European Union, process similar applications within a reasonable time frame, we can only note, with great dismay, the excessive delays associated with the registration, registration extension or re-evaluation of plant protection products in Canada, especially in a context where market globalization puts us in competition with products from these countries that are sold in Canada.
As we heard just a few minutes ago, long delays already existed, but they are now excessive and can take up to a decade. There are several reasons for this. Bureaucracy, which has become institutionalized to an excessive degree in some cases, has led to a clear loss of agility. Rigid processes mean that evaluation procedures are often lengthy, even for products that have already been approved for other crops in Canada. In addition, we can see that there is very little synergy between the PMRA and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. Finally, specifically for the horticultural sector, the underfunding of the Pest Management Centre creates undue delays in the extension of registrations, i.e., the addition of new crops or new pests for a plant protection product. It takes five years to add a new crop to the label. That is far too long for an agricultural sector that wants to be both innovative and dynamic.
I will now give the floor to Ms. Lessard.