Theme 1: Enhancing engagement and collaboration in risk assessment
Recommendation 1: The Working Group recommends that federal and provincial government departments and agencies whose interests and concerns are affected by the federal pesticide regulatory system be consulted earlier and participate in a more meaningful manner in PMRA’s risk assessment process.
- Deliverable 1.1: Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) will conduct a pilot to engage (Provinces-Territories) PTs on a post-market regulatory decision with risk issues to identify partners that can generate/collect data to inform the regulatory outcome, improve PMRA’s value assessment, and provide a better understanding of the impact of the decision and suitability of alternatives.
- Deliverable 1.2: Compile lessons learned from PMRA pilot to refine engagement process and data collection.
- Deliverable 1.3: PTs to explore setting up internal mechanisms within their province/territory to collect the information requested by the PMRA required to increase the accuracy of pesticide risk assessments.
- Deliverable 1.4: Explore tools such as a new database or existing platforms to facilitate information sharing amongst PTs and between PTs and PMRA to support meaningful contribution to the risk assessment process.
Theme 2: Recognizing the value of pest management tools
Recommendation 2: The Working Group recommends that pesticide value assessments be considered by the PMRA when deciding how far to refine risk assessments and in determining the suitability of alternatives when cancelling or amending product registrations.
- Deliverable 2.1: PMRA will conduct a pilot to engage PTs on a post-market regulatory decision with risk issues to identify partners that can generate/collect data to inform the regulatory outcome, improve PMRA’s value assessment, and provide a better understanding of the impact of the decision and suitability of alternatives.
- Deliverable 2.2: Compile lessons learned from PMRA pilot to refine engagement process and data collection.
- Deliverable 2.3: When required, PTs will put in place measures to explore the availability of viable alternatives with their regional growers or their agricultural representatives.
Recommendation 3: The Working Group recommends that federal and provincial government departments and agencies whose interests and concerns are affected by the federal pesticide regulatory system contribute additional expertise and knowledge to improve the quality of PMRA’s value assessments.
- Deliverable 3.1: PMRA will conduct a pilot to engage PTs on a post-market regulatory decision with risk issues to identify partners that can generate/collect data to inform the regulatory outcome, improve PMRA’s value assessment, and provide a better understanding of the impact of the decision and suitability of alternatives.
- Deliverable 3.2: Compile lessons learned from PMRA pilot to refine engagement process and data collection.
- Deliverable 3.3: Informed by the pilot and to improve the quality of value assessments, PTs will work with PMRA in exploring the development of tools (for example, data collection templates) to ensure pertinent data is collected for re-evaluation and special reviews, thereby reducing the use of conservative models and their assumptions.
- Deliverable 3.4: When possible, PTs will put in measures to provide socio-economic data as required in support of PMRA value assessments, such as data on regional economic impacts if a crop protection product is identified for removal without a suitable cost-effective replacement.
Theme 3: Supporting access to integrated pest management solutions, including biopesticides and lower-risk products
Recommendation 4: The Working Group recommends that federal government departments and agencies explore ways to make Canada a more attractive market to register new pest control products, notably biopesticides
- Deliverable 4.1: To support a more attractive market to register crop protection products, AAFC will advance multidisciplinary working group initiative to generate technical data to support registrants seeking PMRA evaluation for drone-based pesticide applications.
- Deliverable 4.2: AAFC to identify regulatory barriers and challenges for registering crop protection products, including biopesticides, through lessons learned/best practices from Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada's (ISED) Hypergrowth Projects (for example, Vive Crop Protection)
- Deliverable 4.3: AAFC and PTs to develop a list of emerging stakeholders and products to support enhanced information sharing.
- Deliverable 4.4: AAFC will explore federal funding and programing options available to support the development and deployment of integrated pest management solutions, including biopesticides.
- Deliverable 4.5: AAFC will continue to engage in advocacy and collaboration to address trade barriers caused by pesticide regulations misaligned with international standards, through ongoing engagement in international fora (that is, the World Trade Organization (WTO) Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS)) and supporting the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and Health Canada (HC) in engagements with the Codex Alimentarius to advance the timely development and adoption of international standards for plant protection products (PPPs).
- Deliverable 4.6: PMRA will explore ways to help small businesses navigate Canada’s pesticide regulatory system (for example, workshops/materials) to facilitate the registration/authorization of new, innovative pest control products, including biopesticides and other low-risk options.
Recommendation 5: The Working Group recommends that federal and provincial governments invest further in research and knowledge transfer to support the adoption of effective, innovative and diverse pest control products and approaches in the agriculture sector.
- Deliverable 5.1: Continued support to minor uses and biopesticides selected as grower priorities at the Pest Management Centre's Priority Setting Workshop.
- Deliverable 5.2: AAFC research capacity and investments will continue to support research, development and knowledge transfer of pest control practices and technologies, such as precision agriculture, breeding, integrated pest management practices, and novel pest management tools, in alignment with existing program eligibility parameters and Departmental policies.
- Deliverable 5.3: PTs to explore Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership (SCAP) programs/funding to support science extension and knowledge transfer activities in support of integrated pest management including biopesticides registration and/or integration.
- Deliverable 5.4: Leverage existing mechanisms, facilitate the exchange of information between federal, provincial, and territorial governments to increase the complementarity of research and knowledge transfer efforts related to alternative pest management tools, systems, and approaches.