The town of Hamilton, Ontario has reported low turnout to five meetings focused on discussing a possible ban on the cosmetic use of pesticides. While an article from the Hamilton Mountain News notes that a number of lawn care representatives attended multiple meetings, a lack of public interest has left local lawmakers without enough useful information on how to create a new bylaw.
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Low turnout and a lack of support of any of three options to control pesticide use may prompt the committee to hold further meetings in the fall. “The issue is back to deliberations with the committee,” Hamilton councilor Brian McHattie, chair of the pesticide subcommittee, told the Hamilton Mountain News. “There wasn’t great representation at the meetings, which is unfortunate.”
While McHattie says there is nothing keeping the committee from holding a public meeting to ask for more feedback, that meeting – if agreed to by the committee in September – would have to wait until this fall. Additional meetings this summer are not possible, as the committee has exhausted its budget after hiring Lura Consulting to facilitate the first five public meetings. The Hamilton Mountain News reports that the committee spent $70,000 on the consulting firm to hold public meetings in June and July to gauge public support for the proposed bylaws.
A total of 87 people attended the public sessions, but it was unknown how many people attended multiply meetings. Lura Consulting also had planned for 300 people to attend the stakeholders meeting at LIUNA Station, but only 28 people showed up. The committee received 25 emails, and another 218 people signed a petition requesting that the city control pesticide use. The petition had been submitted to the city in 2002.
While meeting attendees overwhelmingly supported an education program on how to reduce pesticide use, the consultants found “little support for a bylaw to restrict the use of pesticides.” The city has reportedly partnered with Green Venture, a local environmental organization on such a program.
Hamilton already reduced the use of pesticides to 2.5 percent of the city's 5,681 acres of public lands in 2002, from 6.5 percent in 2001. Blanket spraying of pesticides has been reduced to minimal spraying on some rural cemeteries and at Dundurn Castle. As of the 2001 census, Hamilton has the 10th largest population of all Canadian cities with more than 490,000 residents and is the fourth largest city in Ontario, behind Toronto, Ottawa and Mississauga. For the full Hamilton Mountain News article by Kevin Werner, click here.