The use of pesticides is now so widespread in our society that we tend to forget that these products are actually designed to destroy and control organisms deemed to be undesirable or offensive, including plants, insects and rodents.

When pesticides are applied, the environment can be contaminated by these substances, whether it is water, air or soil. Indeed pesticides can react indiscriminatingly and can have detrimental effects on non-targeted organisms, including man. For these reasons many countries have regulated the use and sale of these products.

In Canada, pesticides come under the shared authority of the federal, provincial, territorial governments as well as municipal entities. The federal government controls, among other things, pesticide registration, marketing and labelling. Provinces and territories can regulate the sale, use, storage, transportation and disposal of pesticides registered by the federal government. They also have the power to restrict or prohibit within their area of jurisdiction, the use of registered products. In several provinces, municipalities have the power to enact more exhaustive regulations, principally for pesticides uses in urban areas, by taking into account their local specificity.