Hello, everyone.

Thank you, ENVI members.

I am Cassie Barker, senior program manager of the toxics program at Environmental Defence.

My colleagues and I appreciate this opportunity to appear before this committee and to work together to strengthen this bill.

CEPA is essential to human and environmental health. It provides the government the authority to act on urgent mandates, such as reducing climate-changing greenhouse gases and banning single-use plastics. Bill S-5 is a starting point, but it requires changes to make it a stronger, more rigorous reform of the sections of CEPA that are up for review.

Our proposed amendments will help the government clarify and focus their ambition on securing environmental rights and improving chemicals management.

I would like to raise two transparency-related issues in our proposed amendments. In our submission, this is recommendation two, which relates to labelling. It establishes a new requirement for the minister to ensure that harmful substances are disclosed on the labels of consumer products. This is in clause 20.

Also, recommendation eight, which relates to confidential business information, requires reasons to accompany a request and puts the onus on the requesting party to demonstrate the necessity for confidentiality—this is subclause 50(2)—and it mandates disclosure of the names of substances and organisms when in the public interest, such as when permits, conditions, notices or prohibitions apply. That is in clause 53.

First, on transparency and labelling, people in Canada currently have limited access to information regarding the chemicals found in many products, some of which lead to harmful exposures with potentially serious health and environmental effects. Without complete ingredient labels, information about exposures is unknown. Ingredient disclosures can drive product reformulation, safer substitution and market reform. Providing information on the hazardous substances in products ensures greater transparency and facilitates the consumer's right to know.

Product companies are already complying with disclosure, transparency and labelling requirements in other jurisdictions, such as the EU and the U.S., including California. Government has a duty to uphold health protection, illness prevention and environmental justice. In order to be effective, mandatory labelling must include disclosure of the presence of substances that have been determined to be toxic or that are suspected of being capable of becoming toxic.

Second, we can set a higher bar for confidentiality claims in order to expand public access to data about environmental and health risks.

We respectfully request your support for these amendments, and we look forward to future opportunities to improve CEPA to more fully realize its vision of precaution and protection.

Thank you.

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