Quebec said to favour mandatory GM labelling

By Barry Wilson
The Western Producer

This article, originally published Nov. 24, 2005, appears here with permission from The Western Producer

QUEBEC CITY — A political and popular consensus has formed in Quebec to demand that all products containing more than minute amounts of genetically modified material should be labelled, says a provincial politician.

Fatima Houda-Pépin, a member of the Quebec national assembly and chair of its agriculture and food committee, said the major political parties in the province support mandatory labelling.

In February, the provincial agriculture minister will be called before the committee to respond to its unanimous recommendations for mandatory labelling made in 2004.

“I expect he will give us a clear answer,” she said in an interview after addressing the annual meeting of the Agricultural Institute of Canada on the labelling issue Nov. 9.

“I hope he supports the recommendation, which also reflects the position of the Liberal Party of Quebec.”

Houda-Pépin said the recommendation is not a comment on the safety of GM organisms. It is a reflection of the precautionary principle and the clearly stated opinion of consumers that they want to know as much as they can about the food they are eating.

“I think the public’s right to know what they are eating is paramount,” said the provincial Liberal MNA and 11-year veteran of the national assembly.

Houda-Pépin acknowledged that food companies and some farmers oppose mandatory labelling, arguing that it would impose costs that would make provincial products more expensive since the rest of North America does not require labelling.

“Europe requires labelling and a lot of consumers in Canada, North America and the world support labelling even if their governments do not,” she said in the interview. “I think this could give Quebec product a real advantage, a real value-added.”

She said that while Quebec would like to work with the federal government and other provinces to establish mandatory labelling rules across the country, it is not a problem for Quebec to act alone.

“We often have been the leaders on organic labelling and on livestock traceability,” she told the conference. “Now, other jurisdictions are looking to Quebec in those areas to see what we did and how to copy it.”

After a series of well-attended public hearings, the Quebec national assembly committee recommended labelling for any product that contains 0.9 percent GM material or more.

“I fully believe we will have mandatory labelling,” she said. “It is the trend, the way the world is moving.”

The federal government, supported by the agri-food industry and most farm groups, has opted for a policy of voluntary labelling.

The Consumers Association of Canada, along with many environmental groups and a significant number of MPs, support mandatory labelling, dismissing voluntary labelling as a marketing tool rather than a policy that guarantees consumers a right to information about their food.