MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise today to present a petition relating to the banning of pesticides in Newfoundland and Labrador. This petition has been circulated and delivered to the House of Assembly through the hard earned efforts of concerned citizens out there throughout our Province.

Mr. Speaker, I will read the prayer of the petition for the record of the House of Assembly.

To the hon. House of Assembly of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in Parliament assembled, the petition of the undersigned residents of Newfoundland and Labrador humbly sheweth:

WHEREAS as far back as 1999 the federal Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development stated in his annual report that "pesticides in the environment have been linked to lung diseases, reproductive problems and birth defects, developmental disorders, allergic reactions, lowered resistance to disease in humans, and cancer"; and

WHEREAS as far back as 2002 the City of St. John’s, the largest municipality in the Province, in a letter to the provincial government asked that the City of St. John’s Act be amended to permit the City to ban the cosmetic use of pesticides if the provincial government is not prepared to do so; and

WHEREAS in November 2009 Municipalities Newfoundland and Labrador passed, unanimously, a resolution presented by the City of Mount Pearl calling on the provincial government to enact a ban against the use of pesticides for cosmetic purposes in Newfoundland and Labrador; and

WHEREAS the City of Corner Brook has implemented a voluntary ban on the cosmetic use of pesticides; and

WHEREAS the City of St. John’s has not used pesticides on recreational areas since 1995 and in 2010 issued the following public advisory: "To protect the health of our citizens, especially young children, City Council recommends that the general public avoid the use of pesticides on lawns and gardens for cosmetic purposes"; and

WHEREAS in February 2009 the Canadian Cancer Society-NL, the Lung Association-NL, and the Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association all wrote the Minister of Environment and Conservation expressing support for a Province-wide ban on cosmetic pesticide use; and

WHEREAS in June 2009 the above-named organizations wrote to both the Minister of Environment and Conservation and the Minister of Health and Community Services, this time on behalf of a provincial coalition of health and environmental organizations and concerned citizens, encouraging "the drafting of provincial legislation that will prohibit the sale and use of cosmetic pesticides" and stating that "the precautionary principle places the onus on government to explain why they are not acting to protect us from the unnecessary health and environmental risks posed by the cosmetic use of pesticides"; and

WHEREAS bans against the use of pesticides for cosmetic purposes in Canadian municipalities (over 170 at present) and provinces (Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia) now protect the health of almost 80 per cent of Canadian citizens; and

WHEREAS Newfoundland and Labrador is now the only Atlantic Province without a ban on the sale and the use of cosmetic pesticides;

THEREFORE, we, the undersigned, call on the House of Assembly to urge government to enact legislation in 2011 modeled after Ontario’s Pesticides Act, banning the use of pesticides for cosmetic purposes in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

And as in duty bound, you petitioners will ever pray.

Mr. Speaker, this petition is signed by thousands of people from across Newfoundland and Labrador, people who come from not just the St. John’s and the Mount Pearl area, but communities all across the region, like Conception Bay South, and Burgeo, and Heart’s Delight, and Clarke’s Beach, and Corner Brook, and Humber Valley, Whitbourne, Torbay, Carbonear. Mr. Speaker, there are hundreds of communities, I think, that are listed in this particular petition, and they are calling on government to do what other leaders in our Province have had the foresight to do already. Like the Cities of St. John’s, and Mount Pearl, and Corner Brook.

They have been asking the government since 2009 to take this issue seriously.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

I remind the hon. member that the time for presenting petitions is three minutes, the member has been speaking for four and a half minutes already. I ask her to conclude her remarks.

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

May I, by leave, clue up my petition?

MR. SPEAKER: Does the hon. member have leave?

MS BURKE: To clue up.

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I appreciate the House giving me the time; it was a long prayer in the petition.

Mr. Speaker, they have been asking the government since 2009 to take this issue seriously, while other provinces across Canada have already implemented a ban to protect the health of their residents and the people who live in their Province, it is what they are asking the government in Newfoundland and Labrador to do as well. The legislation, Mr. Speaker, varies from province to province, and there have been times when exemptions have been afforded. I am sure they would be open to discussions with the government on how far the legislation should go and what should be contained in it.

At this stage, they have allowed the government the past three years to examine this particular policy, to look for a way to bring forward some innovative legislation that would fall in line with what other provinces in Canada are doing, and what other cities in our own Province are doing. They are asking the government to take this issue seriously, and to act immediately.