Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Canada's Bill C-517 killed, Canadians denied mandatory labelling of GM foods

Well, after receiving no attention whatsoever in the mainstream media, it looks as if the private member's bill, Bill C-517, An Act to Amend the Food and Drugs Act (mandatory labelling for genetically modified foods) was kicked to the curb before even getting to the second reading stage to determine whether it should be passed on to a committee. Those who voted it down include Convervative MPs Preston Manning and Peter MacKay, as well as Liberal MPs Michael Ignatieff and Paul Zed (from Saint John, NB) and if you click on the link above, you'll get a complete list of which MP thinks you shouldn't have a right to know what goes into your food. There were 101 ''yays'', 156 ''nays'' and 18 paired votes. That's close enough that all it would have taken was a bit of reporting on this to get people's attention so that they'd pressure their MPs to vote to push it forward. Greenpeace Canada has more about it here.

2 comments:

mv said...

In one year and six months we will be able to vote. I hate that we have no say in anything at this point (not that being able to voe would have mattered in this instance, but it reminds me of our powerlessness at this point in time).

M said...

Unfortunately, there were quite a few notable Liberals who voted it down, as well (and chances of the Greens or NDP of making any headway are slim to none). I'd like to think that anything is better than Harper's regime right now, but in many ways, we're stuck with the same old thing regardless of who's elected. Agribusiness is too powerful at this point.