A petition signed by 5000 New Brunswickers who are opposed to herbicide spraying was presented to the legislature on December 8. Check out this CBC interview with Tracy Glynn.

The text of the petition is as follows;

A petition to ban herbicide spraying of the public forest in New Brunswick

To the Honourable the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick assembled:

The Government of New Brunswick is going to massively expand the

spraying of herbicides over our public forest, and at public expense.

This follows the decision to allow industry to triple the area of

conifer plantations in areas of naturally growing forest. Young conifer

plantations are sprayed with herbicides to control broad leaf/deciduous

trees and shrubs.

Broadleaf trees and shrubs are an important food source for a variety of

forest wildlife. Spraying herbicides to kill broad leaf trees and shrubs

destroys the food source and habitats of many forest dependent species.

With approximately 90 per cent of its forested land under public

ownership, the province of Quebec listened to public concerns and banned

herbicide spraying of its public forest in 2001. We call on the

provincial government of New Brunswick to do the same and ban the

spraying of our forest.