Speech by the Minister of Health The Honourable Leona Aglukkaq to Announce Funding for the Chemicals Management Plan

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October 3rd, 2011
Ottawa

Check Against Delivery

Good Morning,

It's a pleasure to be here with my colleague, Minister Kent, for this important announcement. I'm also glad to be joined by Shannon Coombs, President of the Canadian Consumer Specialty Products Association. Thanks for being here today, Shannon.

As Health Minister, I've often spoken about the importance of consumer product safety. As a Mom, I know first hand the importance of ensuring that parents have confidence in the products that they give to their children.

Since forming government, we've taken decisive action to help protect consumers from potentially dangerous goods:

• We've banned toe-holds in cribs, and we're currently reviewing present drop-side crib standards.
• We're leaders in lead reduction in children's toys, and we've called on industry to voluntarily ban cadmium which is commonly used in children's jewellery.
• We've restricted the use of phthalates in soft, vinyl plastics for toys, and we're a world leader in declaring BPA, a product formerly used in polycarbonate baby bottles, as harmful to human health and the environment.

Thanks to the action of the Harper Government, we've updated 40-year-old laws, and can now legally remove unsafe products from shelves through the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act. This is the type of action Canadian parents and consumers expect, and deserve.

And, in 2006, Prime Minister Harper launched our Government's Chemicals Management Plan. For the last five years, the Chemicals Management Plan has been helping to protect the health of Canadians while protecting our environment - a win-win for Canadians.

Today, I'm pleased to announce today that the Harper Government is renewing our Chemical Management Plan for five more years.

We want to continue to make the marketplace safer for consumers. Its not just about the health of Canadians - it's about the health of our economy, too.

We have already looked at hundreds of chemicals in the environment, in food, cosmetics, household products, and industrial products.

We are routinely adding substances to the Cosmetic Ingredient "Hotlist." Since June of 2010, we have added 22 new substances to that list as a result of our work under our Chemicals Management Plan.

Our Plan has made Canada a world leader in consumer safety and chemicals management.

But, there is more work to do, and we're ready to roll-up our sleeves.

I would now like to invite Minister Kent to speak to the plan.