Gary Megaffin is the type of guy who likes his lawn putting-green perfect.
The Kitchener, Ont., resident owns a lawn tractor, a power trimmer and a leaf blower. He believes mowing a lawn without trimming its perimeter is like "wearing a tux with dirty shoes."
Every spring and summer, he raids his shed for chemicals: some for bugs, some for grubs and some for dandelions he likes to squirt and watch shrivel. "It's a lot easier than getting on your hands and knees," says Mr. Megaffin, who is 71 and has arthritis.
Soon, however, it'll be goodbye to chemical killers for Mr. Megaffin and the approximately 6.6 million other Ontario residents living in communities that don't already have anti-pesticide bylaws. This week, the province announced a sweeping ban on the use of traditional pesticides and herbicides on residential lawns and gardens, similar to one already in place in Quebec. Home Depot has promised to voluntarily yank products such as Killex and Grub-B-Gon from Canadian stores by the end of the year, and Canadian Tire is doing the same in Ontario.
But some lawn-loving diehards are not ready to surrender. "I don't want a pile of weeds in my yard," said Fred Snider, 46, who did professional yard work around Kitchener-Waterloo before getting out of the business 10 years ago. "I know where to get my own stuff. I don't care if they have a ban or not."
Asked if he'd adhere to the Ontario ban after it kicks in next spring, Mr. Megaffin would only say: "You're not supposed to speed over 100 kilometres per hour on a highway ... but look what happens."
The ban has highlighted a long-standing turf war among gardening enthusiasts over how their yards should look - and how it should be achieved.
On one side are naturalists who say pesticides are unnecessary and harm the environment and humans. Those arguments have persuaded an estimated 140 communities across Canada to try to eliminate pesticide use through local bylaws, as well as the bans in Ontario and Quebec. Prince Edward Island may soon follow.
On the other side are turf lovers who say chemicals keep their yards free of bugs and weeds. They point out that Health Canada says home pesticides pose "no unacceptable health or environmental risks." And they complain that with so many watering and pesticide bylaws already in place, this is just one more government-sanctioned crimp on their yard work.
"I'm just saying it's a double standard," says Mr. Snider, protesting the inequity of having to quit his twice-annual ritual of treating his lawn with weed killer, while his local golf course can continue to use it under the new Ontario rules.
After Quebec declared an end to pesticide use in 2006, hardware stores across the border in Ontario reported that Quebeckers were buying cartloads of products such as Roundup and sneaking them back home.
The stream of customers seeking their pesticide fix hasn't stopped, said Jean-Francois Bertrand, owner of the Home Hardware in Hawkesbury, Ont., about 100 kilometres west of Montreal.
"We see people with baskets full of [pesticide] products," he said, predicting there "might be some stockpiling" on the Ontario side, too.
Thom Bourne, owner of Ottawa lawn care company Nutri Lawn, says he received a half-dozen calls from dismayed clients when news of the Ontario ban broke on Tuesday. Mr. Bourne offers his clients organic yard treatments, but 70 per cent opt for traditional herbicide and pesticide programs because they're more effective, he said.
"People are going to have to come to terms with the fact that their lawn's not going to be as good," he said. "People want a nine out of 10. Now what they're going to have to accept is a six out of 10."
