A Kamloops-based natural health products advocate began a cross-country tour last week to raise opposition against proposed consumer-protection laws he claims will trample the rights of businesses that sell natural health products.
Shawn Buckley, a constitutional lawyer and president of the Natural Health Products Protection Association (NHPPA), claims Bill C-36: The Canada Consumer Product Safety Act shifts too much control to bureaucrats and puts Canadians at risk of trespass and raids by Health Canada.
Even though natural health products are exempt from the proposed act, Buckley claims the act is a “Trojan horse” that will pave the way for government to regulate the natural health products sector with the “same sweeping provisions” in the act “that by-pass the rule of law.”
NHPPA said in the same release the industry has been under siege since natural health products were included under the Food and Drugs Act in 2004.
As a result of that inclusion, the association claims thousands of products have become unavailable to consumers, restricting their access to healthcare alternatives.
The bill has passed third reading in the House of Commons and is now before the Senate.
Buckley’s tour, dubbed ”Freedom in Crisis,” began November 18 in Nelson. It ends December 7, with stops in Toronto, Moncton, Winnipeg, Penticton, Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton.
Buckley, who has support from some members of Senate and at least one major law firm in Canada – Fasken Martineau – claims the new bill will likely not hold up to challenges in the courts.