Reudi Baumann, left, and Damon Zirnhelt of Zirnhelt Timber Frames recently constructed a test building with hemp panels. Performance information on the drying process was transmitted from embedded electronic sensors to the University of Manitoba.
By Carole Rooney
Source: 100milefreepress.net
The Red Tape Reduction Commission (RTRC) released its final report on Jan. 18, and it included recommendations resulting from suggestions made by a 100 Mile House group.
The report, entitled Cutting Red Tape ... Freeing Business to Grow, involves two sets of hemp-specific recommendations reflecting suggestions submitted by the 100 Mile House Industrial Hemp Pilot Project steering committee. Committee chair Mayor Mitch Campsall says an over-complicated process requires producers to apply for a licence every year. "The whole idea of the red-tape [suggestions] was to get the complications out of it and face reality."
The hemp committee attended a pre-budget meeting in Kamloops with federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty about a year ago, he adds, where one of its members made a presentation of the group's ideas.
"Jack Witty made the presentation; they were only allowing one person [in] at a time." Witty says the specific regulations were counterproductive from a grower’s point of view. "They made the growing considerably more difficult because they were done as a blanket thing to address the whole country. "So, if it works in, say the Sun Belt around Toronto, we're quite a bit further north than that and quite a bit higher up, and so some of our growing needs are different."
The submission also pointed out they were aware of similar problems are seen on the Prairies, Witty adds.
"At the individual farmer’s level, they don't always work, and so we identified those that did not work for our area." Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo MP Cathy McLeod was at the meeting, and Campsall says she was instrumental in their cause. "I think the federal government really listened to us ... I have to thank Cathy McLeod because she's been right on the ball with us every time [the municipality and the steering committee has] gone to her and talked to her about [red tape] stuff like this. She's been really quick to react."
The mayor calls the strict requirements "guardian-protecting" and says the regulations are "phenomenally bad" because of the similarities to hemp's close relative, cannabis (marijuana). "Even the buying of the seeds was really difficult. The storage of the seeds has to be secure; there's just so much. It's a huge, huge issue." McLeod notified people in the community soon after the report was released, and it's "an important next step," the MP says
"I know it was near and dear to [the 100 Mile] group who were very active in terms of advocating for that."
To review the specific recommendations on hemp, download the report at www.reduceredtape.gc.ca, and go to the Health Canada section in Appendix B.
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