Former agronomist with work-related Parkinson's petitions against federal pesticide law changes

A former Quebec agronomist whose Parkinson's disease was ruled to be work-related is leading a public challenge against federal legislation he says will weaken pesticide safety rules. Gérald Chouinard's petition, which closed last week with 21,410 signatures, calls for the repeal of amendments in two federal budget bills. Bill C-30, passed in June, allows cabinet to approve pesticides Health Canada has deemed too risky for the environment if ministers decide they are needed for economic or food security. Bill C-31, still before Parliament, would end the requirement that every pesticide be fully re-evaluated at least once every 15 years. "It's a complete change of direction," Chouinard told The Narwhal in French. "For decades, we've been going in one direction to reduce the risks, reduce the use of these products. … Now, suddenly, two bills that go the other way."

Chouinard was diagnosed with Parkinson's in 2019 at age 56. In 2022, Quebec's administrative labour tribunal ruled his illness was directly linked to his job, which for 20 years exposed him to more than 40 pesticides sprayed in orchards. His employer, Quebec's Agriculture Ministry, did not contest the claim. The province's workplace safety board told him he was the first such case. The bills have arrived as recent studies document links between some pesticides and health risks like Parkinson's and cancer, and as federal data shows unresolved questions about pesticides in Canadian water.

A recent audit by the commissioner of the environment and sustainable development found Health Canada's new water monitoring program, launched in 2024, is working as intended. The program collected nearly 4,000 water samples last year, with 30 of 233 analyzed pesticides exceeding levels considered safe for aquatic life. Four pesticides landed in the highest-risk group. Yet for half of these highest-risk pesticides, auditors found Health Canada had not started looking at whether action was needed. The department also has no thresholds for action when pesticides exceed levels that may pose a risk to human health, but agreed to draft them by June 2027.

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The audit highlighted the insecticide clothianidin as an example of the monitoring program doing its job. A neonicotinoid harmful to pollinators, its limit was exceeded 360 times in 2024, more than any other pesticide, at sites in Prince Edward Island and Ontario. Health Canada used that data to widen a re-evaluation of the insecticide to include its effects on aquatic invertebrates. "Without the sampling results from the program, Health Canada would not have had the data on clothianidin to support these actions," the auditors wrote. That kind of review is what Chouinard fears is now at risk from the legislative changes.

The government fast-tracked Bill C-30, limiting House debate and wrapping up committee study in two hours. The Senate committee that studied the bill concluded changes of this significance "should have warranted a separate study rather than being included in an omnibus bill." A press secretary for the health minister said cabinet has not yet used its new power to approve a pesticide. The government frames the changes as part of a wider push on food security, unveiling a $3.2-billion national food security strategy in June.

Industry has welcomed the shift. "Food security is, ultimately, national security," Darren Anderson, CEO of Canadian pesticide maker Vive Crop Protection, told a Senate committee in June. He called C-31's review changes "much more of an efficiency play." Most major farm groups agreed, with the Canadian Federation of Agriculture saying it would "welcome and support the recognition of economic and food security," as long as implementation does not add bureaucracy. The Fruit and Vegetable Growers of Canada also expressed strong support, while insisting food security must not weaken health or environmental protection.

However, the National Farmers Union asked members of Parliament in June to scrap the pesticide changes altogether. The union noted cabinet deliberations stay confidential for 20 years, so the public would not learn why a pesticide was approved until any effects were irreversible. It also raised concerns about well-resourced companies lobbying for Health Canada exemptions. Chouinard said he does not blame farmers, noting climate change brings more insects and disease, making it harder to limit chemical use. "They're the first victims" of both climate change and pesticide exposure, he said. Bill C-31 would replace the mandatory 15-year re-evaluation with an "assessment" of information already available. A full re-evaluation would be required only if health or environmental risks have "increased significantly." A transitional provision would also let the minister end re-evaluations already underway on the same basis.

With files from The Narwhal