Saskatchewan officials 'mouthpiece' for pesticide industry, documents show

Senior officials in Saskatchewan's agriculture ministry used its political clout against federal and international environmental rules on behalf of the pesticide industry, Canada's National Observer has found. 

A trove of heavily-redacted documents, obtained through a Freedom to Information request, reveal that between May 2023 and November 2024, the province's then-minister of trade and export development courted pesticide giant Bayer for a provincial partnership with the company to promote new agricultural technologies, and worked closely with Croplife Canada, the pesticide industry's main lobby group, to advance industry positions with the federal Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA). 

Since 2021, Canada's National Observer and Radio-Canada have exposed several instances where the PMRA worked closely with industry to shape Canada's pesticide rules, which critics say have left Canadians at risk from the harmful chemicals. 

Canada falls behind nearly 90 per cent of countries when it comes to bans on harmful pesticides, and the PMRA has been under fire for years because of a chronic lack of transparency about the health and environmental impacts of the pesticides it approves, failing to heed warnings from its own researchers, and colluding with the pesticide industry to keep harmful pesticides in use. 

These new documents — a mix of partially-redacted emails, briefing notes, presentations and meeting minutes — show how industry groups are also working closely with the Saskatchewan government to push policy positions in its favour, adding credence to industry views in federal consultations and international negotiations.

For instance, in a summer 2023 email chain, Faye Dokken-Bouchard, director of production technology at the ministry, worked with Croplife Canada to harmonize the ministry's submissions to the PMRA's then-active consultations about how much glyphosate residue could be on some crops. The ministry also noted plans for submissions to push back on the PMRA’s efforts to improve public scrutiny of environmental and health impact studies used by the agency to approve pesticides; and reference compromising the federal government's international commitment on biodiversity protection to reduce pesticide risks. 

Each of these consultations had the potential to slash into pesticide industry profits if the PMRA took a cautionary approach. 

"I just wanted to flag this email from Croplife Canada with their draft response to the PMRA's regulatory review," Dokken-Bouchard wrote in an Aug. 8, 2023 email to then-deputy minister Rick Burton and five other senior ministry officials. "Overall, we are very aligned with Croplife Canada." 

Dokken-Bouchard followed up by noting that two senior leaders in the organization — the director of regulatory affairs and chemistry, and the vice president of government affairs — whose names, but not their titles, are redacted from the documents, would be attending an agricultural trade conference a few days later, on Aug 15. 

According to their LinkedIn profiles, Paul Enwerekowe has been Croplife Canada's director of regulatory affairs and chemistry since 2022, after 14 years as a federal policy analyst on pesticide issues. Gregory Koltz has been the organization's vice president of government affairs since January 2023. 

"I'm not sure if anyone from the ministry in attendance would have the opportunity to meet with [the Croplife executives] to discuss the PMRA issues but please let me know if there's anything I can do to facilitate that," wrote Dokken-Bouchard. 

Burton, the former deputy minister, replied that he would be at the event and Dokken-Bouchard could let her Croplife Canada contact know that he would be "happy to discuss PMRA issues with him and ask him to connect with us at a break so we can find some time to talk." 

Dokken-Bouchard confirmed Croplife Canada representatives attending the event would seek out Burton, adding her contact with the organization provided "a pretty good key message" about the PMRA's regulatory review — which is redacted from the documents. 

In response to questions about Croplife Canada's ties to the Saskatchewan ministry of agriculture, Pierre Petelle, the organization's president and CEO, told Canada's National Observer in a statement that Croplife Canada "proudly advocates for good agricultural policy. As part of this, we engage with governments of all levels … to openly share our positions. It is up to individual governments and stakeholders to carry forward the policies and messages that they see as beneficial for growers, the agricultural sector and Canadians writ large."

The documents also show internal preparations for a late May 2023 meeting in Germany between then-Saskatchewan Minister of Trade and Export Development Jeremy Harrison and Max Müeller, Bayer's head of public affairs for Germany and the European Union. 

"Inquire as to how business has been going in SK and Canada and if there are any areas of opportunity for increased business in SK and if there is anything the government can do," a May 11, 2023 draft briefing note reads. 

A more complete version of the document states that: "Bayer and the Ministry of Agriculture are aligned on many market access issues and should be leveraged as partners to help influence trade policy that is based on science and risk-based analysis." 

The term "risk-based analysis" describes an approach to pesticide regulation that is typically more liberal and imposes restrictions as problems arise, compared to a precautionary approach, which aims to prevent harm before they occur. 

In anticipation of the COP28 climate conference, the document also notes that Saskatchewan "has the opportunity to partner with Bayer and the advocacy groups they are part of to defend sustainable agriculture [sic] that are used in SK and for dryland farming overall." 

In a memorandum of understanding signed between Bayer and Saskatchewan at COP28, the province cites no-till farming as an example of "sustainable agriculture" because it reduces carbon emissions from tillage. While true, critics point out that most no-till farming relies heavily on herbicides to kill weeds otherwise eliminated through tillage. About a third of pesticides used in the US are used for no-till farming. 

In an emailed statement, Bayer confirmed the company "supports a science-based approach to Canada's regulatory system" and said the company "was approached" at COP28 by Saskatchewan to sign the partnership agreement. 

'This is the government trying to capture industry'

Saskatchewan officials were acting as "more than lobbyists — they're the mouthpiece for industry," said Mary Lou McDonald, a lawyer and founder of Safe Food Matters. "I used to think that with regulatory capture, industry would try to capture the government. This is the government trying to capture industry." 

Laura Bowman, an Ecojustice lawyer who specializes in pesticides, said while the Saskatchewan government is entitled to collaborate with the pesticide industry on its federal and international lobbying, she was surprised to see how close the ministry was with agrochemical producers. 

"It would be understandable if Saskatchewan was advocating specifically for farming groups. It's a little bit weirder to see them lining themselves up with pesticide industry lobbyists and pesticide companies more directly," she said. 

Duff Conacher, co-founder of Democracy Watch, a democratic reform and corporate responsibility watchdog, wrote in an email:"Whenever a provincial government backs any stakeholder, especially a big business or industry association, it tilts the policy-making process in favour of the protecting private interests of the stakeholder, business or industry and against protecting the interests of voters.

"The fact that the Saskatchewan government is keeping most parts of the document secret makes its relationship with the pesticide companies smell even more. The government should not be abusing secrecy loopholes in the province's open government law to hide information the public has a clear right to know," he said. 

"If the government was interested in acting democratically and ethically it would not only disclose the rest of the documents but also close those loopholes in the law."

Update: In a Wednesday statement, the Saskatchewan agriculture ministry said it "prioritizes robust, science-based evidence...and appreciates that pest control products are integral to the production of high-quality, safe and nutritious agri-food products. Working closely with industry members, producers and federal regulators is a critical part of our role."