Canadian Finishing & Coatings Manufacturing September/October Issue - 10

CPCA CORNER
BY PETER MIRTCHEV, PH.D.
DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, CANADIAN PAINT AND COATINGS ASSOCIATION
CEPA Modernisation Bill Passes Third Reading
in the Senate and Referred to the House of
Commons in the Fall
B
ill S-5, which seeks to update the Canadian
Environmental Protection Act (CEPA, 1999), was
introduced in the Senate in April of this year. It
was referred to the Senate Standing Committee on
Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources (ENEV) for
debate and clause-by-clause review. CPCA and other industry
associations including the Chemistry Industry Association of
Canada, Cosmetics Alliance Canada, Canadian Manufacturers
& Exporters, and more appeared as witnesses very early in
the committee hearings to provide their views and answer
questions. They were followed in the succeeding weeks by
government officials who drafted the bill and by witnesses from
various health and environmental associations and activist
groups. In fact, industry representatives who will be directly
affected by the new regulations were outnumbered by a factor
of more than two to one by the non-governmental organisations,
including Environmental NGOs.
Over the course of Senate deliberations, the committee was
only able to meet a total of 13 times, a very rushed and inadequate
amount of time for a bill of such complexity. Several Senators
brought this up during meetings and were concerned by the fact
that they had not been provided enough information to properly
debate the bill. However, when Government officials provided
input on why certain amendments should not go forward, they
were ignored. Was that too much or not enough information? Or
information they chose to ignore?
The rushed process and influence of ENGOs in the Senate
led to some 60-plus amendments being tabled including ones
that threaten to move away from the risk and evidence-based
standard that has served Canada very well over the last 20 years
and made CEPA a flagship risk assessment and management
framework. CPCA's advocacy efforts flagged that many of the
above amendments appeared to be outside the scope of the
bill or introduced unworkable provisions for the departments
responsible for administering CEPA, namely Health Canada
and Environment and Climate Change Canada. This view was
seemingly shared by senior department officials during the
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clause-by-clause review sessions. Some of these provisions were
subsequently struck down after industry advocacy but many
remained as the Bill was passed by the full Senate in late June.
Bill S-5 will now have to clear the House of Commons this
fall before being referred back to the Senate for Royal Assent.
However, the Senate and the House of Commons will only
resume just before the beginning of October followed by a
Christmas break in the first week of December. Therefore,
Bill S-5 will be racing through the House of Commons as well
and then back to the Senate for Royal Assent in record time. It
appears obvious the Minister for the Environment is targeting
the end of the calendar year to get S-5 through Parliament. Such
haste may not serve either government or industry well.
Industry will continue to support the government and
the Minister in trying to get this bill passed without further
amendments by ENGOs, and repeal the unsubstantiated
amendments proposed by the Senate and activist ENGO groups
in a way that is in the best interest of all Canadians, including
Canadian businesses and those in the many chemical industries
who rely on them.
Further Risk Management Actions on the
Horizon for MEKO
Health Canada has released a consultation document to inform
the future risk management instrument for 2-butanone oxime
(MEKO), (CAS RN 96-29-7). MEKO is widely used as an antiskinning
agent, which prevents the drying and formation of a
skin on the surface of paint and coating products. It is used in the
formulation of alkyd paints, varnishes, stains, finishes, coatings,
adhesives and sealants for both industrial and consumer use.
Health Canada's screening assessment under the CMP in 2010
concluded that MEKO was toxic to human health by inhalation
and therefore it was added to Schedule 1 of CEPA in 2011 followed
by a voluntary Code of Practice for its use, in conjunction with
CPCA, and published in 2014.
The Code was in place for five years (2014 - 2019), at which
point a performance evaluation report was carried out which
determined that one of the Code's objectives had not been met by
industry. CPCA met with Health Canada officials at this time and
challenged that conclusion noting that certain concentration
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Canadian Finishing & Coatings Manufacturing September/October Issue

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