On behalf of Canada's salt industry, I'd like to thank the committee for giving us the opportunity to tell our story and to make some recommendations that we feel would make CEPA more efficient and effective.
The salt industry experience with CEPA really started in 1995, when we were put on PSL2. At the time, we in the industry were quite surprised, and we were on a fairly steep learning curve for a period of time. However, by 1999 we thought we had identified some problems with the statute. I went before the Senate environment committee that year and made some recommendations--similar to the recommendations we're making today, actually.
At that time we really asked three questions. First, does it make sense to structure a statute where all substances in commerce must pass one test, which is toxic or non-toxic? Second, isn't there a very real perceptual difference between substances like salt and substances like arsenic? And third, if so, how could you label them to make it more clear for everyone?
At that time we came to the conclusion that we did think there was a real difference between substances like salt and substances that meet the normal definition of toxic. We put forward a recommendation that there be a third category created, called the public good category, in which we could place beneficial substances that need to be managed in the public interest.
Since 1999 we've been through a great deal. We understand the statute better. I think the recommendations we're making today are more refined. However, they echo the same theme, really, that we believe there needs to be more than just a toxic/non-toxic categorization in the statute.
Through the PSL process the salt industry fought the toxic listing, but not because we didn't think road salt shouldn't be managed properly in the environment. As a matter of fact, the salt industry has run a program called Sensible Salting for the last 40 years, and that was really the precursor to the code of practice developed by Environment Canada. We fought the listing because we didn't think road salts belonged on the same list as other things that meet the traditional definition of toxic.
We are deeply concerned about the legal and trade implications of a toxic listing. Because salt is an approved food, we find it very inappropriate that it would be put on the same list, particularly when the salt you eat is almost exactly the same as the salt we put on the roads.
Another important point of concern in the current statute centres around the emphasis on the need to list whole classes of substances rather than zeroing in on the real environmental problems. The perception seems to be that the whole class of substance needs to be listed in case there's a need to regulate at a later date. I think a good example of that is ammonia, which was brought up earlier. Again, I don't think there was much debate about releases from waste water treatment plants. However, instead of zeroing in on that problem, the debate became much larger and took a lot of resources that could have been spent dealing with the issue rather than with the broader classification.
In our view, the current black and white decision over toxic and non-toxic and the broad-brush approach taken, particularly when the precautionary principle is drawn in, seriously conflicts with regulatory policy. It's based on continued regulation, which we think is wrong.
I know from my own experience that we in the salt industry, Environment Canada officials, and members of Parliament and their staff have spent countless hours debating this toxic/non-toxic designation. So a tremendous amount of resources could have been spent more productively elsewhere, tackling the real issues. In our case, I think most people involved agreed on the practical steps needed to manage road salts properly, as was evidenced by the work done by the working committee on road salts.
Given that our industry and others were determined to fight the toxic label and stigma, we took the opportunity to meet with many politicians and key decision-makers. It was apparent to us that the politicians in particular saw the issue the same way we did. It just doesn't make sense to legally list road salts as toxic, particularly since other levels of government are using road salts to keep roads safe, to prevent injuries, to prevent people from being killed, to keep commerce moving in the winter.
I recall a meeting with a cabinet minister right here in Ottawa on a cold and icy day. He and a group of colleagues had just come in from outside, after question period, and one of his colleagues had been commenting about the lack of de-icer on the roads and sidewalks that day. The minister asked the group what they thought about the toxic label, and at that point they all agreed that it was contradictory to the product's purpose and to its beneficial intent.
Since that time there have been many developments in this area, including a budgetary proposal to remove the word “toxic” from the statute. We didn't oppose this proposal, but we didn't support it either. We still believe that substances like road salts should not be on the same list as substances that are clearly understood to be toxic in the ordinary sense. I think it's also germane to this debate to note that if there is not an intent to regulate, a substance really doesn't need to be on any list.
Just to give you my own perspective on the issue of the stigma attached to the toxic listing, during the CEPA process I was the English spokesperson for the salt industry. In 2000, the draft risk assessment was issued by Environment Canada. I had many calls from reporters and the press, and everyone zeroed in on the toxic listing.
There were a lot of reports about salt being poison, and at the time many Environment Canada people and others tried to explain that “CEPA toxic” is not the same as the dictionary definition of “toxic.” However, it seems that it's very difficult for people to grasp that concept. At the time there was even a geography professor from western Canada who tried to link road salts to cancer. Again Environment Canada and Health Canada had to try to dispel that rumour, because obviously it was false. So a lot of resources were tied up.
In 2001 when the final assessment report came out, Environment Canada went to great lengths not to use the word “toxic” in the press release. But again, most of the calls I got were from reporters who wanted to talk about a toxic listing, and the word “poison” found its way into several articles. So a large amount of time was tied up dealing with this issue when we could have been doing things that were more productive to manage road salts.
The recommendation we're making today is for another list or schedule in CEPA that could be used for substances that are not toxic in the ordinary sense. In our brief we make three suggestions.
First we propose the addition of a new schedule for substances to be voluntarily managed--that is really our recommendation.
Our second suggestion is for a more descriptive contextual use of the CEPA registry, where substances that require management are on the registry and would only migrate to schedule 1 if regulation became required.
Third, we suggest that the current situation that road salts are in could be used for other substances; that is, there's been a recommendation to list, but no listing. Again, it's confusing to people, and we don't think that's the best answer.
With all our proposed solutions, we ask that you zero in on the actual problems rather than using the broad-brush approach, because with the current system and 23,000 substances to evaluate, it's going to be very difficult to fit them in. It will just take too much time.
At this point we'd like to highlight one other recommendation that we put in our submission. We find the PSL scientific risk assessment process to be far too directed and controlled by Environment Canada researchers. We think there should be more independent review, because some bias can slip into the existing system.
The reality today is that the head assessor is involved with making the recommendation and directing all the science and decision-making processes. All the comments made during the 60-day comment period go back to the same group that made the initial recommendation. We really believe that sound science requires outside influences and outside peer review. For these reasons, we recommend the statute be amended to require a formal third party peer review of the science or risk assessment conclusions.
Today the only avenue of assured appeal is to go to cabinet or a cabinet committee. When industry and others avail themselves of the cabinet appeal process, it ties up a lot of high-level resources and is expensive and time-consuming. So we recommend a peer review for the science, and more stringent application or regulatory policy for all regulatory and statutory decisions, perhaps enforced by an independent body responsible for regulatory policy.
I thank you for the opportunity to speak to you. I'll be pleased to answer any questions.