Summerside's mayor hopeful city will follow Charlottetown and ban cosmetic pesticides

A day after Charlottetown councillors voted in favour of a cosmetic pesticide bylaw, Summerside Mayor Bill Martin says he's hopeful his councillors will do the same.

• Charlottetown bans use of cosmetic pesticides

"I don't want to speak for the other eight [councillors]," said Martin.

"But Stratford's done it, Cornwall's done it, Charlottetown's now done it. That has to have some bearing on our decision, I would assume."

Martin has publicly supported a cosmetic pesticide ban since his mayoral election campaign. But last fall, all but two city councillors voted down a resolution that would have imposed to such a ban.

Instead, council passed a resolution that led to a series of public education meetings around controlling weeds without pesticides, and a plan to draw up a draft bylaw that will eventually be put to a new vote.

"If I were a betting man, I'd bet that in the year 2017, prior to the spraying season, we will have a ban somewhat similar to the other communities that have passed one," said Martin.

Charlottetown bylaw has limitations

If Martin's prediction proves true, Summerside won't be all that far behind Charlottetown.

Municipalities don't have the authority to regulate the hardware stores. Charlottetown Mayor Clifford Lee

The capital city's bylaw won't actually take effect until January 2017. And like Stratford's and Cornwall's, it will just ban certain commercial pesticides that only lawncare companies are licensed to use. Residents will still be free to purchase any pesticide products available in stores.

"The bylaw does not have any impact on what you can buy at a hardware store," said Charlottetown Mayor Clifford Lee after Monday's vote.

"Provincial legislation governs that aspect, and the municipalities don't have the authority to regulate the hardware stores."

P.E.I.'s Pesticide Control Act does include a long list of banned pesticide products that Island stores aren't allowed to sell. The manager of P.E.I.'s pesticide regulatory program has told CBC News provincial inspectors do check in on stores to ensure they're only selling what is allowed.

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