What is scary vegan Bill C-293?

Would it mandate vegetable proteins? Would it make your kids eat bugs? Are bugs even vegan?

*** There has been a campaign in the alt-right media that attacks my pandemic prevention and preparedness legislation as some hidden vegan agenda to mandate vegetable proteins. I wouldn’t normally respond to this grifting, especially from Rebel Media, but at least one Senator has expressed concerns based on this astroturfing and the bill now looks to be stalled. So here’s my message to my Senate colleagues.

Dear Senators and staff,

You’ve been receiving emails from people who have fallen down the alt-right Rebel rabbit hole online.

The bill doesn’t cede our sovereignty to the WHO. And it doesn’t mandate vegetables, make our kids eat bugs, or mark the end of animal agriculture.

In fact, it doesn’t grant the government any new authorities at all.

I know this because I wrote the bill.

In doing so, I consulted with expert reports from UNEP, IPBES, and The Independent Panel, and with experts like David Naylor, Peter Stoett, and Christine McNab.

What does the bill do? It requires the government to develop a pandemic prevention and preparedness plan, to table that plan in Parliament for public accountability, and to update it every few years so the issue doesn’t fall by the wayside as it did after SARS.

The bill also sets out a non-exhaustive list of issues for the government to include in any prevention and preparedness plan. For example, the plan must:

• identify key drivers of pandemic risk (section 3(2)(b));

• ensure Canada contributes to global disease surveillance (3(2)(g));

• identify preparedness strategies with respect to the availability of PPE, surge capacity for contact tracing, and the working conditions of essential workers (3(2)(i);

• assess our domestic manufacturing capacity for vaccines and treatments (3(2)(k)); and

• review measures to support global health equity (3(2)(n)).

There’s a lot more in there, of course, and I don’t suggest that I got it all perfectly right. When I testified at the Health Committee, I made it clear that I not only welcomed but encouraged amendments. You can read the full transcript here.

I know that there would have been a series of amendments to the bill at the House committee had the Conservatives not filibustered the entire process.

Now, the scary “vegan” section that’s recently attracted attention from grifters, alt-right conspiracy theorists, and Bovine University alumni is section 3(2)(l). It requires the federal government to consult with provinces and ensure there are measures in place to manage and reduce infectious disease risk in animal agriculture.

Let’s consider the specific language in the bill:

i) reduce the risks posed by antimicrobial resistance

The World Bank calls the overuse of antibiotics a public health threat and pegs AMR deaths at hundreds of thousands per year. Canada’s taking action and that work should be updated as needed. 

ii) regulate commercial activities that can contribute to pandemic risk, including industrial animal agriculture

We know that a high density of genetically similar animals increases infectious disease risk. Avian and swine flus aren’t new, and expert reports (see here & here) have laid this out clearly and then some. 

I had biosecurity rules in mind here, which shouldn’t be controversial. The CFIA’s Chief Veterinary Officer has testified that “most on-farm biosecurity standards are voluntary” at the moment.

Global travel is a key pandemic risk too, and no one is talking about ending either animal agriculture or travel. That would be ridiculous. It’s about managing and reducing risks.

iii) promote commercial activities that can help reduce pandemic risk, including the production of alternative proteins

As I’ve come to learn from far-right MPs like Cheryl Gallant, “alternative protein” is apparently communist coded language for eating bugs.

Of course, plant-based alternatives are already common as well as significant to Canada’s pulse industry. And cellular agriculture holds promise, as we already see products in Singapore and better industry support in the US and other countries.

We either meet growing global demand for protein in an unsustainable way at great risk to public health, or through a combination of biosecure meat alongside an expansion of alternative proteins.

More choices, no mandates. 

iv) phase out commercial activities that can help reduce pandemic risk, including activities that involve high-risk species

As we saw with mink farming in the pandemic, some activities have little economic value and come with disproportionate infectious disease risks. That’s why BC and other jurisdictions banned the practice.

The idea here was to ensure we take a national approach and follow BC, phasing out an activity that unreasonably contributes to pandemic risk.

And that’s it.

That’s the scary “vegan” bill in a nutshell, which isn’t a vegan bill at all.

Like climate accountability legislation, Bill C-293 would ensure that every government is accountable to Parliament and the Canadian public with respect to its pandemic prevention and preparedness efforts.

And all along I’ve been open to amendments.

I do hope we can work together to put the conspiracies aside, to amend the bill thoughtfully in the Senate, and to ensure that we have a framework in place such that all future governments take pandemic prevention and preparedness seriously.