Moe, Smith call on Carney to allow emergency use of strychnine

Premiers Scott Moe and Danielle Smith are asking Mark Carney to grant a three-year exemption for strychnine use, citing rising gopher populations.

Premier Scott Moe of Saskatchewan and Premier Danielle Smith of Alberta are again asking the federal government to temporarily allow strychnine use for pest control.

In a post to social media Tuesday morning, Moe revealed a letter addressed to Prime Minister Mark Carney, requesting a three-year exemption to the ban on two per cent liquid strychnine. The provinces are requesting access to the poison for use on Richardson ground squirrels, also known as gophers.

According to Moe, since the 2020 decision to deregister strychnine, the gopher population has increased “to the level where they have become a serious pest threat to agriculture, damaging a wide range of crops.”

The premier called Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) decision to deny the provinces’ previous request for emergency use earlier this month “unreasonable.”

“The gopher population is out of control and requires, immediate, effective management to avoid further impacts to a multi-billion dollar per year industry,” he said in the letter.

“Existing alternatives have narrow application windows and require multiple treatments, creating unnecessary burdens for farmers and ranchers managing thousands of acres.”

Moe claimed the province’s submission fully addressed the agency’s concerns and included science-based mitigation measures, mandatory training and enhanced reporting requirements.

“It is concerning that PMRA has limited its focus to environmental risk, specifically secondary poisonings, despite extensive collaboration between our officials and PMRA on developing mitigation measures,” the letter read.

Strychnine was outlawed by the province in 2023 after a two-year phase-out, followed by a federal ban the following year.