I am an Ontario resident and…

I am an Ontario resident and member of the Structural Pest Management Association of Ontario (SPMAO). SPMAO is the most experienced and largest professional association for the structural pest management industry in Ontario, a non-profit organization with a board of directors comprised of representatives from our members. SPMAO represents over 160 licenced companies that actively protect the health and safety of all Ontarians from dangerous and deadly pests. SPMAO members use pesticide products to control ants, bed bugs, cockroaches, mosquitoes, rodents, spiders, stinging insects, and other pests in countless commercial, residential, and institutional settings.

I appreciate the opportunity to submit comments regarding changes to the Ontario Pesticide Act as part of the Better for People, Smarter for Business Act. Ontario is comprised of largest number of pesticide applicators in all of Canada, and it is important to ensure that the greatest contingent of applicators leads the rest of Canada in professionalism standards. In short, I enthusiastically support proposals that modernize Ontario’s Pesticide Act, remove duplicative regulations, and increase the professionalism of our industry by requiring recertification and continuing education or re-writing the examination every five years for licenced exterminators.

SPMAO’s Position:

- Support for the Elimination of OPAC and Removal of Duplicative Regulations
- Support for Increasing Professionalism of the Structural Pest Management Industry and Requiring Recertification or Re-writing the Examination Every Five Years

SPMAO’s Proposed Changes to the Better for People, Smarter for Business Act Regarding Increasing Professionalism for the Structural Pest Management Industry in Ontario:

- SPMAO proposes that the Better for People, Smarter for Business Act include additional changes to the Ontario Pesticides Act that requires recertification through CECs and training through a model that closely resembles British Columbia, where credits are administered through an industry approved association with course approval from the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks.

- If these changes are not included in the Better for People, Smarter for Business Act, SPMAO recommends that at minimum, the bill establishes a working group between members of SPMAO and the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks to study, develop, and implement a recertification program for licenced exterminators in Ontario within the next year.