Conservative MP Plans to Reintroduce Bill Easing Regulations on Natural Health Products

Natural health products at a pharmacy in Toronto in a file photo. Angelo Cordeschi/Shutterstock

Conservative MP Blaine Calkins is planning to reintroduce a private member’s bill to repeal portions of a 2023 law that increased regulations on natural health products, saying he expects it to pass with support from other opposition parties.

Natural health products (NHPs) in Canada have been increasingly regulated since the passage of Bill C-47. The law applies stricter oversight and regulations which the government has said is necessary to keep Canadians safe.

Conservative MP Blaine Calkins in a file photo. The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld

The association representing NHP businesses says the law has hampered access to natural products and subjected natural remedies to unwarranted scrutiny and cost burdens, adding that the increased regulations aren’t needed to ensure safety.

In the previous session of Parliament, Calkins put forward Bill C-368, a private member’s bill that sought to undo the increased regulation of NHPs. It is rare for private member’s bills to become law in Canada, and Bill C-368, which had passed second reading, became null before it had a chance to go to third reading after former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau prorogued Parliament in January.

“I have every intention of bringing back a bill that [has] the same intention as last Parliament,” Calkins said in an interview with The Epoch Times, adding that he expects his bill “will be tabled within the first week of September.”

‘Gold Standard’ for NHPs

Calkins said Canada’s rules for NHPs were viewed as the “gold standard” worldwide prior to Bill C-47. His proposed legislation intends to restore those same standards, he says.

Bill C-47 was a budgetary bill that included numerous changes to the regulation of NHPs, redefining natural health products as “therapeutic” and subjecting them to a strict regulatory framework like that of pharmaceutical products, including tougher recall laws, labelling and packaging changes, requirements for tests and assessments, and fines up to $5 million per day for non-compliance.

Calkins’s bill sought to repeal sections of the law that reclassified NHPs as “therapeutic” and prevent the industry from being potentially fined and legally liable for not abiding by the new stricter regulations.

“Let’s get back to that,” Calkins said. “Keep costs down and drive innovation and development and let people have care and control of the products they want to use for their health.”

Debate Over Bill C-47

The Liberal party and other supporters said the enhanced regulations, including the right of mandatory recall under Bill C-47, were necessary to protect consumers from potential misinformation, product contamination, and unsafe manufacturing practices.

The Liberals said Health Canada’s inspections of NHPs manufacturing facilities had shown high incidences of non-compliance with safe manufacturing practices, as well as numerous cases of misinformation about cancer-related health benefits of natural health products.

Shawn Buckley, a lawyer and spokesperson for Canada’s Natural Health Products Protection Association (NHPPA), said the new rules imposed by Bill C-47 have put businesses and lives at risk.

Businesses would be “finished” financially if they didn’t do exactly what the federal health agency says, Buckley told The Epoch Times in an email, noting that the fines slapped on them would be too high for most to weather.

“Health Canada can now order a manufacturer/supplier to do literally anything and it is a $5 million a day fine to resist,” said Buckley. “There is now no room for negotiation. There is no room for resistance. I have had files where resistance saved lives. In one case the Court made a finding of fact [that] lives were saved for resisting Health Canada. One cannot resist any longer without facing bankruptcy.”

This is part of a broader problem with the law in Canada, says Buckley, where “it is illegal for us to access any remedy that is not approved of by our bureaucracy (Health Canada).”

Calkins echoed Buckley’s charges, saying that he himself uses NHPs such as magnesium, and he knows that Canadians depend on NHPs for everything from health improvement to life-saving treatment.

While some NHPs may have pharmaceutical equivalent products that can be substituted, others do not, according to Calkins, who said that many NHPs are essentially food derivatives. He added that some NHP companies are leaving Canada for the United States because there are “regions in the United States that are actively now recruiting natural health companies from Canada to move there.”

Health Canada says that its “number one priority is to keep Canadians healthy and safe,” and the stricter regulations are needed to meet this goal.

“We know how important natural health products, such as vitamins and minerals, herbal remedies, and sunscreens, are in our daily routines. Yet, Health Canada has seen serious non-compliance that could potentially be harmful to consumers, such as product contamination and the presence of ingredients not listed on the label,” Health Canada says.