Mr. Speaker, some of our most vulnerable citizens, the children of Canada, are the victims of dangerous toxins in pesticides. Proportionally children ingest more pesticides than adults. These pesticides are found in the food they eat, the air they breathe and the lawns and ground they play on.
Like arsenic in pressure treated wood, mercury in fish and toxic chemicals in plastics, pesticides pose an enormous danger to the health of our children.
We have long had scientific proof that 40 different kinds of pesticides interfere with the development of children's bodies for years. Yet what do we get from the government? Nothing but inaction and broken promises. It failed to keep its promise to table new legislation to replace the Pest Control Products Act of 1969.
New Democrats today join with Canadians everywhere to demand that the government deal with this important issue with the urgency it deserves and act immediately to introduce effective pesticide rules to protect our children.
As children's entertainer and health advocate, Raffi has said “If children had a say, this would have been done by now.”