The Roles of the PMRA (Health Canada) and Other Levels of Government in Pesticide Regulation

Responsibilities for regulation of pesticides in Canada are distributed between federal, provincial/territorial and municipal governments.

The Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) of Health Canada is responsible for the Pest Control Products Act*, pesticide registration and revaluation and incorporate considerations of human health and safety, environmental impact, and efficacy of candidate materials in their decisions about registration of pesticides. The PMRA also develops alternative strategies and deals with compliance and enforcement issue.
*A new Pest Control products Act was given Royal Assent on Dec 12, 2002, but has yet to be implemented.

The provinces and territories "regulate the sale, use, storage, transportation and disposal of registered pesticides in their jurisdictions as long as the measures they adopt are consistent with any conditions, directions and limitations imposed under the PCP Act or other federal legislation."

According to provincial/territorial legislation, municipalities may set further conditions on use of pesticides.


Source: Pest Management Regulatory Agency Fact Sheet on The Regulation of Pesticides in Canada March 2003. Available as a PDF document at http://www.pmra-arla.gc.ca/english/pdf/fact/fs_pestreg-e.pdf


Posted 1 May 2004
Updated 13 Mar. 2006
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