Bill C-31 Pesticide Review Change Sparks EU Trade Fight

Bill C-31 would replace Canada's rule that every registered pesticide be re-evaluated at least once every 15 years with a full reassessment only if associated risks increase significantly, a term the bill does not define.

A coalition including the National Farmers Union warns the change could widen the gap with tighter EU pesticide rules and put Canadian canola and lentil exports to Europe at risk.

CropLife Canada says no reviews are being scrapped, arguing regulators will still assess changing risks and that the change would speed farmer access to new products.

Source: Farmtario (Glacier FarmMedia), Oct. 27, 2026

Tucked inside Bill C-31, Ottawa's latest omnibus bill (the legislative junk drawer where dead batteries, twist ties, and regulatory overhauls live), is a change to how pesticides get rechecked.

Right now every registered pesticide must be re-evaluated at least once every 15 years. C-31 would swap that for a full reassessment only if risks "increase significantly."

What counts as significant? The bill doesn't say. Bold strategy, leaving the one load-bearing word in the whole section blank.

CropLife Canada CEO Pierre Petelle says "no one's scrapping anything." Regulators would still check whether risks have changed, still fold in new research and foreign rulings, and data pointing to a problem could trigger a review at any time.

His analogy: the 15-year rule is like making a driver with a clean record retake the full road test every 15 years. The pitch is faster access to new active ingredients, so Prairie growers aren't stuck spraying last decade's chemistry while competitors move on.

On the other side, a coalition including the National Farmers Union says the changes were cooked up behind closed doors, without producers or Health Canada's scientific advisory committee, then hidden in an omnibus bill.

The coalition held an info session for MPs on Oct. 20. One Liberal MP showed up, and not one from cabinet or the ag committee. Plenty of chairs, though; the chairs had a great time.

A petition to pull the pesticide provisions has topped 13,000 signatures.

Europe is the pressure point. With the U.S. no longer a reliable customer, the EU matters more, and the EU runs tighter pesticide and traceability rules than Canada does.

Critics warn a widening gap could get product stopped at the European border, and they named canola and lentils. Not hypothetical: in January France began restricting imports containing five EU-banned substances, four of which are used in Canada, and Canadian lentils have already been targeted.

Petelle's counter: the EU blocks competitors' imports to protect its own farmers anyway, so this is "nothing new."

The so what: faster registrations are a real win in the cab, and a market access headache in Europe is a real loss at the elevator. Which one is bigger comes down to a word nobody has defined yet. Our take, not the article's: Keep It Clean's annual guidance on export-sensitive products is still the cheapest crop insurance you'll ever buy.

Update to our Oct. 8 coverage: Ottawa has proposed a 1.3x credit multiplier for Canadian-made ethanol under the Clean Fuel Regulations, aimed at the edge U.S. producers get from subsidies like the 45Z production tax credit.

The Farms and Fuels Alliance asked for 1.4x, so naturally it responded with the most Canadian sentence ever written: "a step forward, not a substitute for a durable solution." Translation: thanks, that's not it.

Why they're pushing: only 38% of the ethanol used to generate credits was produced domestically, per Environment and Climate Change Canada's latest data.

The FFA also wants Canadian ethanol let into federal production incentives it's currently shut out of, and warns that expanded compliance flexibility for fuel suppliers would water down demand.

Prairie angle: the FFA is Ontario and Quebec corn, but the multiplier covers Canadian-made ethanol, full stop, and it lands weeks after Cenovus said it will close its Lloydminster ethanol plant on Dec. 15. Our read, not the release's: a bigger multiplier won't reopen Lloydminster, but it will shape whether the next Prairie grain buyer gets built.

The Canadian Federation of Agriculture has joined a new national tax coalition led by CPA Ontario, alongside chambers of commerce, CFIB and Grain Farmers of Ontario. Together they claim 700,000 businesses and professionals.

The ask: a tax system review in the Nov. 5 federal budget. The new productivity mega-deduction counts as a first step, apparently not a last one.

CFA president Keith Currie: farms are capital-intensive and multi-generational, and a modern tax system would give families the confidence to invest and pass the operation to the next generation.

The so what: succession is where the tax code hits a Prairie farm hardest, right when the land changes hands. And a coalition of accountants asking for a simpler tax code is the most selfless thing we've seen all year.

The third Canadian Wild Pig Summit is underway in Brandon: two days of researchers, governments, industry and control crews from across Canada, the U.S. and Australia. (Update to our Oct. 21 note on Wayne Lees' Hall of Fame induction.)

The big focus this year is African swine fever preparedness. ASF doesn't affect humans, but it's highly contagious in pigs, and a Canadian case would be devastating for the pork industry.

Where the pigs stand, per Animal Health Canada's 2024 report:

The secret weapon: thermal-imaging drones. Lees, who coordinates Squeal on Pigs Manitoba, calls wild pigs a "one health problem": crops, environment, disease and public safety, all in one hairy package.

The so what: see one, report it, don't freelance it. Sask: 1-833-PIG-SPOT. Manitoba: 1-833-SPOT-PIG. Alberta: 310-FARM. Yes, Saskatchewan and Manitoba used the same three words in a different order, which is the finest interprovincial cooperation we've seen all year.