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Queen’s Park – Green Party of Ontario leader Mike Schreiner slammed the Liberal government for failing to protect bees.
Schreiner renewed the party’s call for a ban on the use of neonicotinoid pesticides that kill bees.
“Bee kills are at crisis levels. Your food supply is threatened. And the Premier continues to talk this issue to death,” says Schreiner in response to the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario’s (ECO) Annual Report released today at Queen’s Park.
According to the Environmental Commissioner, neonicotinoids pose a bigger threat to the environment than DDT.
The report states that “there is now abundant evidence linking bee kills to neonicotinoid-contaminated dust generated during planting of seed-treated crops.”
“The government talks a good game on protecting bees, but does nothing to solve the crisis,” says Schreiner. “This is a direct threat to our food supply and our food and farming economy. We need more action, less talk.”
87 of the world’s major crops depend on pollinators. The economic value of pollination is estimated at $213 billion. Ontario’s food and farming sector employs over 740,000 people and contributes over $40 billion to Ontario’s economy.
The Green Party believes the responsible action is to ban the use of neonicotinoid pesticides until peer-reviewed scientific research can definitively determine that neonicotinoids do not harm bees.
“As the Liberals drag their feet, seed companies and grain farmers are planning for 2015. If the Liberals don’t act now, Ontario will experience another year of massive bee kills,” warns Schreiner. “Bee farmers can’t withstand another year of massive losses.”
The Green Party of Ontario wants to restore honesty, integrity, and good public policy to Queen’s Park.