The President of Association of Manitoba Municipalities says AMM welcomes the pesticide ban review announced by the province.
    
The provincial government announced Monday it is seeking submissions from Manitobans regarding the ban on pesticides for cosmetic use.

"It's welcome to hear that the province is going to review this regulation," says Chris Goertzen. "Obviously municipalities have been asking this for a number of years."

Goertzen says under existing restrictions, it is extremely costly for municipalities to attempt to control weeds. He says it costs ten times as much, now that the ban is in place.

"So a municipality that was spending let's say fifteen thousand dollars, would be spending upwards of one hundred fifty thousand or more dollars," explains Goertzen. "It's just not doable, it's not practical and we want to find a solution that's not only good for our communities but is also affordable."

That means, municipal councils are left with the decision of whether to increase their weed control budgets or to stop with weed control in certain areas of the municipality.

"I'm looking forward to seeing the regulation reviewed, come up with a practical solution that will be good for all Manitobans," he says.

Goertzen notes AMM will be making a submission and he invites municipalities and Manitobans to do the same.

Manitobans can email submissions to pesticide.review.2016@gov.mb.ca or respond through an online survey at: www.gov.mb.ca/conservation/envprograms/initiatives/cosmetic_pesticides/ until Sept. 12.