Speed up pesticide ban, Stratford council told

Stratford council heard from Pesticide Free P.E.I. Wednesday night that it is time for P.E.I. municipalities to stop talking and implement bans on cosmetic pesticides.

Last fall the province gave municipalities the power to ban some pesticides, and Stratford resident and Pesticide Free P.E.I. member Roger Gordon told council Wednesday night it is time to act.

"The Stratford town council is in our opinion delaying the introduction of a bylaw by having bringing into play what they term an engagement process," said Gordon.

The town launched a resident survey this week. Acting mayor Randy Cooper said council won't be making any decisions until it hears from Stratford residents. He expects survey results by the end of April, so May would be the earliest timeline for a first draft of a bylaw.

We're going through the process to make sure we have the necessary information," said Cooper.

"We've done that in countless projects information gathering that we've done here in Stratford where we go back to the residents and make sure that we're getting a good sample of what they want to do."

Cooper said Stratford is also working to co-ordinate its regulations with neighbouring Charlottetown and Cornwall.

"One thing that we don't want to do, and I think would be unproductive, is for us to come up with a set of rules, Charlottetown a set of rules and Cornwall a set of rules," said Cooper.

But Gordon said there's been enough discussion.

"We feel that this is basically a health and safety matter that the council should be moving full speed ahead on," he said.

If a by-law is not passed soon, Gordon would like to see a moratorium on all pesticides for this year. 

No matter what the results are from the annual resident survey Cooper said it is highly unlikely that any bylaw on pesticides will be passed in Stratford by spring,

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