Welcome to RCC

February 15, 2008

Mr. Robert Bilyea
Senior Policy Advisor
Ministry of the Environment
135 St. Clair Avenue West, 11th Floor
Toronto, ON M4V 1P5

Dear Mr. Bilyea:

On behalf of Retail Council of Canada (RCC) and its members operating in Ontario, I am writing in response to the January 18, 2008 EBR Registry Posting #010-2248 which proposes to introduce new legislation that would ban the cosmetic use of pesticides in Ontario.

Retailers, as sellers and importers of designated products and the touch point for both consumers and manufacturers, have a significant stake in the development of the proposed legislation. RCC and its members are committed to the health and safety of Ontarians. The following represents the initial thoughts of retailers, which may be added to and/or refined as further discussion and consultation takes place.

Bans
RCC and its members do not support product bans unless there are legitimate concerns for consumer safety and protecting the environment. Retailers believe such bans need to be based on science. The legislation must clearly state whether the ban will be on substances or specific products. RCC members would recommend that such a ban, if imposed, be on use rather than sale.

Definitions
The legislation needs to provide clear and understandable definitions for the following terms in order to ensure affected retailers are able to comply:

• Rural centre
• Urban centre
• Pesticide
• Herbicide
• Fungicide
• Commercial use
• Domestic use
• Natural products

Education and Consumer Awareness
To ensure compliance with the proposed legislation retailers must clearly understand their obligations under any new laws affecting the sale of merchandise; and consumers must also be educated and influenced to change their purchasing behaviour.

RCC and its members would be pleased to work with the Ontario Ministry of the Environment on the development of voluntary guidelines that are clear and understandable to assist affected retailers in complying with the legislation.

RCC understands that part of the intent of proposing such legislation is not just for the protection of the health and safety of Ontarians but to also support innovative green alternatives to pesticides. As the touch point for both consumers and manufacturers, retailers are the vital link in the supply chain and are strategically well positioned to assist in educating and increasing awareness among consumers.

The government may wish to develop a consumer incentive program to help change consumer behaviour by driving them to consider green alternatives. For example, the ENERGY STAR symbol has proven to be an effective mechanism to help consumers identify energy efficient products while providing consumers with rebates on the purchase price of qualified appliances and equipment. As consumer rebate programs have implications on a retailers' point-of-sale system, RCC would recommend working with the government to discuss the potential to develop such a program, how retailers could help promote it and how it would best be incorporated into both small and large retailers POS systems.

Educating consumers must be a fundamental component to the development of the proposed legislation. Developing an integrated (government/retail) consumer awareness and education program will be the most effective way of educating consumers and encouraging them to change their behaviour.

Harmonization
Harmonization is a fundamental concern for the retail sector. The need for legislation and regulation to encourage harmonization with federal, provincial and territorial and municipal laws cannot be overstated. Approaches to pesticide use across Canada are far from consistent and increasingly place national retailers in the position of having to comply with a patchwork of requirements across the country; not to mention the confusion it creates for consumers across different provincial and municipal jurisdictions. Implementing different laws in every province is costly and administratively burdensome for retailers and is confusing for consumers; and as such, harmonization must be entrenched as a foundation of the proposed legislation.

Timing
RCC understands it's the government's intent to introduce legislation to ban the cosmetic use of pesticides in the spring of 2008, according to the EBR Posting. Retailers require a phased-in implementation period of at least three years.

While each retailers' operations are different, in general, they require about three buying cycles from when a ban would be fully articulated to efficiently remove the banned products from their Ontario stores. If not enough time is provided, there is a risk that substantial amounts of excess/banned product would be pulled off the shelf in a short period of time, which is a situation that must be avoided to ensure that such a large quantity of products would not be disposed of inappropriately. Retailers and consumers need to understand how they would be able to dispose of such products once they are under a ban. The government needs to consider these issues when determining their timeline for implementation. Again, RCC recommends that the government provide retailers with a phased-in implementation period of at least three years.

Provincial Toxic Reduction Strategy vs. Comprehensive Federal Strategy
RCC understands that in addition to proposing to introduce new legislation to ban the use of pesticides for cosmetic uses, the government is undertaking a number of initiatives that will be included under a toxic reduction strategy.

The health and safety of consumers is of the utmost concern for retailers. From our members perspective, the top priority is to be assured the products that they sell are safe. That is why RCC and our members support the comprehensive and systematic review of chemical substances currently being undertaken by the federal government. As part of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (CEPA) review, Health Canada and Environment Canada are drawing on unprecedented resources and scientific expertise to conclusively determine the safety thresholds for over 23,000 substances currently in commercial use in Canada. Indeed, Canada is leading the world in this regard.

Under the CEPA review process, substance assessments are not limited to determining potential harm to human health. Substances are also being investigated for potential harm to the environment during their life-cycle. CEPA requires that chemical substances must be examined in a scientific and thorough way so that human health and the environment are protected.

Using the best science and investigative methods, the conclusions reached are setting new information baselines and safety levels for all substances permitted for use in Canada.

By virtue of its scope, robust scientific methodologies, expertise and regulatory tools, the federal program is more comprehensive and far reaching than an Ontario provincial toxic reduction strategy could be. The provincial government would have to invest significant ongoing resources to develop the needed scientific expertise to deal with the complex matters related to these issues. Health Canada and Environment Canada have the expertise and resources currently in place.

Conclusion
Once again, thank you for the opportunity to comment on the EBR Registry Posting #010-2248 which proposes to introduce new legislation that would ban the cosmetic use of pesticides in Ontario. We look forward to actively working with the Ontario government and other stakeholders to develop balanced legislation that will protect the health and safety of Ontarians. If you require any further information or clarification, please do not hesitate to contact me directly at (416) 922-6678.

Sincerely,

Diane J. Brisebois
President and CEO