Great progress is being made to save the bees in Canada! Ontario is actively working to reduce and possibly even eliminate the use of neonics, the class of pesticides linked to the massive collapse of the global bee population.

It’s a bold step from our country's largest province that’s coming not a moment too soon. With up tens of millions of honey bees vanishing each year, beekeepers are saying that we are “on the brink” of losing our crops’ vital pollinators.

Given this incredible leadership by Ontario, all eyes are now on Health Canada, the government agency that can pass neonics regulations for the entire country. It has dragged its feet in the past on this issue -- but, as Ontario has figured out, we can’t wait any longer for pollinator-friendly policies if we want to ensure a safe, sustainable environment for future generations.

Tell Health Canada to follow Ontario’s lead and take action to ban the use of neonics across all of Canada now.

Bees, though tiny creatures, are no small matter for the prosperity of the planet. Responsible for pollinating over a third of the our food supply in North America, they help generate tens of billions of dollars for the global economy and provide us with foods essential for our survival.

SumOfUs has been right at the front of the global campaign to save our bees. Tens of thousands from the Canadian SumOfUs community also took action to demand that big stores Home Depot and Lowe's stop selling the bee killing chemicals. And we are making progress -- Home Depot is reviewing its policies as we speak. Over 750,000 of us have already demanded that Bayer drop the lawsuit to stop the two-year neonics ban in Europe. We also came together to fight Bayer at a huge independent garden store show in Chicago, where the German chemical maker was out in force.

We’ve pushed on Health Canada to pass policies to save the bees before -- close to 50,000 SumOfUs supporters have called on the government agency to take action on bees. Now that Ontario is pushing neonics out we have a unique chance to pressure Health Canada into the right course of action.

Health Canada: We can't wait any longer -- pass regulations regarding the use of neonics now. **********

More information:

“Ontario looking to restrict use of bee-killing pesticides.” CBC News, July 7, 2014.

Photo credit: Benny Kennedy