To enforce its new by-law prohibiting the sale of synthetic pesticides on its territory, the City of Montreal carried out more than a hundred in-store inspections last year, data obtained by The Press. A regulation being prepared in Quebec could extend such a ban to the entire province.
A total of 110 inspections were carried out at the 65 points of sale affected by the Montreal regulations, which came into force on 1er January 2022. “Some businesses [ont été] inspected up to four times during three inspection rounds,” City spokeswoman Kim Nantais said in an email.
Remember that during the first round conducted in the spring, 14 of the 65 businesses targeted had received a notice of violation with a 48-hour period to remove the products from the shelves, and had then been declared compliant.
One of them, however, “reoffended”, found the City by revisiting these 14 points of sale. He received four statements of offence. The name of the trade and of the pesticides in question is not specified. “As the case is currently before the municipal court, the City cannot make any further comments. »
Montreal was the first municipality in Quebec to ban the sale of pesticides containing 36 active ingredients, including glyphosate. However, it took time to enforce its rules. Nearly three months after its entry into force, in March 2022, at least eight hardware stores still had prohibited products on their shelves, and the City had not yet carried out any inspections, Radio-Canada reported.
For the year 2023, the City plans to again inspect all the businesses located on its territory.
Kim Nantais, spokesperson for the City of Montreal
A second Quebec municipality, Granby, in Estrie, will soon ban the sale of a category of pesticides, those based on glyphosate. This ban will be in effect next June, Granby announced in January1.
Quebec wants to ban sales everywhere
Municipalities could soon see their task simplified by Quebec. A provincial framework aimed at banning several pesticides in urban areas will indeed be presented by the end of March. “The pre-publication of a draft regulation is planned for this winter,” the Ministry of the Environment confirmed to us by email.
“The sale of these products would be prohibited in all municipalities” and these prohibitions would target public services as well as “companies that offer pesticide application services and citizens”.
The targeted pesticides are not specified, but this regulation responds to the objective of “tripling the number of pesticides banned in urban areas” that the Ministry had set itself in 2015. A regulation to this effect had first been promised for 2021.
This is why Quebec City did not include a retail ban in its recent pesticide by-law.2. “We will align ourselves with the new expected provincial regulations,” said City spokesperson Karine Desbiens.
Thirty denunciations in Montreal
The new Montreal regulations also aim to control companies that use pesticides on the territory, by requiring them to obtain an annual permit from the city center. In 2022, 119 permits were granted. Just over half went to extermination companies, and about a third to horticulture services. Golf courses also got it.
However, enforcing the regulations remains a local responsibility. However, only 3 of the 19 Montreal boroughs distributed violation notices last year, and 11 of these 13 notices were given to L’Île-Bizard–Sainte-Geneviève, show the data compiled by the central city. Pierrefonds-Roxboro and Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie each submitted an opinion.
It was also Île-Bizard–Sainte-Geneviève that carried out the most inspections, 30 out of the 105 carried out in the whole of Montreal. ” Among these [105] inspections, 33 were carried out following a denunciation,” the central city told us.