Bill C-6 is dubiously labeled the ’Consumer Product Safety Act’. It will replace our existing ‘Hazardous Goods Act’ and could be considered Canada’s version of the USA’s HR 875 the Food Safety Modernization Act. The bill will affect all products we consume and particularly our food.
Bill C-6 is written with the spirit of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, a set of standards created in 1963 by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. This commission has been portrayed as an attempt to globally harmonize regulations, consolidating legal operations of multinational agriculture, chemical, food and pharmaceutical companies. By allowing them to stream-line their deregulatory requirements they are more able to dominate global markets and avoid the need to individually address the issues and concerns of each local market they do business in.
Although this one size fits all approach seems to make sense at the global level, when applied locally it can become problematic, particularly for small businesses. In many cases, forcing small producers to follow the same rules of larger international players will put them out of business with the fees, paper work and inspection requirements.
Other aspects of Bill-6 are even more draconian, extinguishing some basic principles of common and criminal law as well as constitutional rights. Under the new law, at the whim of Health Canada, one may be subject to warrantless search and seizure and be responsible to pay storage fees for seized products without recourse in getting them back or explanations why they were seized. This bill sets the precedent for replacing our democratic laws and principles with Napoleonic code.
One of the most concerning aspects of the way Bill C-6 is written is its irreversibility, in that once passed, Canadian product safety will no longer be within the realm of Parliament's oversight but will lie solely with the un-elected administrators of Health Canada.
To view a video on the subject please follow this link to lawyer Sean Buckley’s presentation.
Do not let this bill pass without your input. It is simple to do. Sign the petition to stop bill C-6 then go here to send a message to all 400 MPs and Senators telling them you opposed these drastic changes to our ways of life.