Stop the Spray Ontario is a 100% volunteer based group with 1 simple mission - immediately ending the use of absolutely non-essential chemical herbicides by Ontario's forestry industry within Ontario's public forests.  

For decades (since the 1950's), the Ontario government has allowed forestry companies to spray chemical defoliants onto Ontario's public forests. If done during the fall season, it kills everything but the conifer trees.  In other words, every plant that creates a leaf is killed to allow pine, spruce, and fir (SPF) trees to grow without any competition for sunlight. 

In the 1950s and 1960's, Ontario's government approved and the forestry companies used AGENT ORANGE.  From the 1970s to about 2010, the Ontario government approved and the forestry companies used 2,4-D (50% of Agent Orange) which is now banned in half the provinces of Canada for health and environmental reasons (google  Killex   2,4-D and  Dioxins )...  Since 2010, the Ontario government has approved and the forestry companies have almost exclusively relied on glyphosate based herbicides similar to Roundup.  If you don't already know, the new owner of Monsanto (Bayer) is just settling 11 Billion dollars in cancer lawsuits in relation to glyphosate based Round Up and during this lawsuit, documents leaked out that Monsanto knew for decades the product causes CANCER but actively and intentionally lied to and deceived governments around the world.....

Google Search “Bayer 11 Billion Dollar cancer settlements” and “Monsanto Papers”

Quebec completely banned the use of all chemical herbicides by their forestry industry in 2001, 20 years ago, and its the exact same forest in Quebec and Ontario.  The provinces share a north south border.

Our petition to the Ontario government is below - Please sign and please share / spread the word !!! WE CAN DO THIS ONTARIO !!!

I Petition and request that the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, Canada should immediately prohibit the continued use of non-essential chemical herbicides (a type of pesticide intended to kill plants) within Ontario’s public forests by Ontario’s forestry industry given; 

(1) the wide variety of non-chemical alternatives which currently exist to effectively meet vegetation management needs…  Quebec banned the use of chemical herbicides by their forestry industry in 2001, and since such time have required (A) forestry companies to replant earlier, (B) with larger more mature seedlings with larger nutrient sacs, and (C) manually tend to the forests as needed with local peoples.   It's as simple as A, B, and then C !!!

(2) the inherent rights of all Canadians to safe and chemical free drinking water, wild plants, wild animals, and fish …

(3) the damages to society are not being included as “costs” when selecting the cheapest method – which would include burdens to Ontario’s publically funded heath care system, damages to ecologically pristine ecosystems, displacements / reductions in wildlife populations, and the disregard for concerns of all communities (First Nations and otherwise) living in these areas.

(4) these chemicals are being restricted and / or banned across the country (and the world), with governments citing health and environmental reasons … Google Search “Ontario Cosmetic Pesticides Ban”, “Europe and Mexico Glyphosate Ban”, Etc …

(5) the ever growing volume of successful lawsuits linking similar glyphosate products (Monsanto’s RoundUp) to cancers in humans … 

(6)  In 1999, the 35th Senate Subcommittee on the Boreal Forest published a report titled, “COMPETING REALITIES: The Boreal Forest at Risk".
 The subcommittee recommended that, “All herbicide and chemical pesticide use in the boreal forest should be phased out as soon as possible.”  

(7) Ontario's public forests are the drainage basins for the Ottawa River, the Great Lakes, as well as the Arctic.  Even the most sophisticated and expensive water filtration plants are unable to effectively remove these chemicals prior to household delivery of drinking water.  With that in mind, northern communities, especially remote First Nation communities, require source water protection first and foremost which means not allowing these non-essential chemicals to be sprayed and to enter the waterways to begin with ...

I urge you to have your group members email their concerns to the Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry John Yakabuski John.yakabuski@pc.on.ca  (Conservatives) , the official government opposition critic at JMonteith-Farrell-QP@ndp.on.ca (NDP) , info.leader@ontarioliberal.ca (Liberals) , mschreiner-co@ola.org (Greens), and us at forestrypesticides@gmail.com so that we can help keep the facts straight on the government responses.

Donations to Change.Org are used to promote this issue within their platform, and gather more signatures more quickly, and we do appreciate their help.  If you would like to fund our group directly to create highway signage, posters, bumper stickers, and facebook ads, please do it through our GoFund Me page. https://www.gofundme.com/f/StopTheSprayOntario  

Please find us and join us on Facebook at 
https://www.facebook.com/StoptheSprayOntario