Moe, Smith urge Ottawa to reverse strychnine ban as gophers pose ‘serious pest threat’ to farms

The premiers of Saskatchewan and Alberta have written to Prime Minister Mark Carney, urging him to reverse the federal government’s decision to ban the use of strychnine to control gopher populations.

The two provinces applied for an emergency use request for the pesticide, but Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency denied that application last month.

Read more:

• Sask. farmers won’t be allowed to use strychnine to control gophers in 2026: Ag ministry
• Federal strychnine ban review may help control gopher ‘plague’ on Sask. crops
• Sask. Wildlife Federation helping landowners control gopher populations

According to the letter from Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, Richardson’s ground squirrels – commonly referred to as gophers – “have become a serious pest threat to agriculture, damaging a wide variety of crops including cereals, oilseeds, pulses, forages, pasture and horticultural varieties, hay land, as well as infrastructure by chewing on fiber optic cables and puncturing small water and gas lines.”

The premiers said it was “unreasonable” for the emergency use application to be rejected, noting that it leaves producers facing another growing season without “a critical pest control tool.”

While alternatives to strychnine exist, the premiers noted that other chemicals have narrower application windows and require several treatments, “creating unnecessary burdens for farmers and ranchers managing thousands of acres” and potentially resulting in “significant” losses for farmers across the two provinces.

“The suggestion of alternative products is appreciated, but in practice are simply ineffective – as evidenced by the current gopher population explosion throughout the prairies,” Moe and Smith wrote.

The premiers asked Carney to grant an immediate three-year exemption for the use of strychnine “while other effective methods of control are researched and registered,” in order to ensure farmers can access the pesticide in time for the start of the 2026 growing season.