I might add that science and its development are very important. It goes back to the Green Revolution when people felt India would need to be abandoned and that hundreds of millions of people were going to starve. But in fact, science did a major positive thing for society by developing new higher yielding crops. We need to consider that the GM crops there are tested and safe. We should be careful to remember that there are only three genetically modified crops in Canada and that they are safe. They have been grown for close to 20 years in many cases.
One of the best studies is what the canola producers themselves did in Western Canada by looking at the value of this technology. It resulted in saving a lot of fuel. The better crop rotation resulted in greatly reduced erosion. Capacity yields and income for farmers increased. The farmers in Western Canada were never forced to grow a GM canola; they selected it very quickly because it provided a benefit for them.
We need to be very careful when we make statements about these things being unsafe. They are safe. We need to make every effort for coexistence. I agree that we certainly want to put the best tools in place and that organic and conventional and other crops can coexist. We have a wonderful pulse industry that has no GM products at all. I'm not sure that making a jurisdiction GM-free is logical, because then you'd have to eliminate insulin and cheese, as they are GM products.
Those are just some of my thoughts.