04/20/2026
Is it autumn or spring?
Trick question. It's Navius Flex. Highway 71 was not as diligently cleared last summer as the Reddit Road was. However, all of our highways were equally diligently sprayed with serious poison. This is what the roadside looks like all through Sioux Narrows / Nestor Falls area. All their beautiful red and white pines. Now just rusty-dead. My friends on Black Sturgeon Lake along the reddit road must also have noticed.
Remember last summer I complained about this? Yes, the chemicals that the Ministry of Transportation Ontario sprayed ARE that serious.
So two weekends ago I went to an event hosted by the Métis Association. They were "informing" the public about what exactly was being sprayed and where. Only ONE company had the balls to show up, and only the Ministry of Natural Resources (no other polluting government agencies) came.
I learned a lot. First of all, WOW. I cannot understate just how many vast swathes of forest are sprayed with glyphosate. That said, I also learned what it is used for. I had assumed it aided in clear cutting. But no, glypohsate is used as part of the REforestation efforts. Because it only affects leafy plants. But they are replanting Jack Pine. The theory is that the replanting agencies are "giving the jackpines a chance" (because they grow much more slowly than poplar or birch). And they swear they only spray once per replantation area.
I ALSO just kep chatting the ear off of the one company who were willing to engage with the public. And I told them flat out "I'm not here to yell and you guys, I'm here to yell at the MTO. But they're not here." So they asked what I'm compalining about. Navius Flex.
This is NOT a chemical. This is a PRODUCT. The actual chemicals involved are Metsulfuron-Methyl at a 12.6% concentration and Aminocyclopyrachlor at a concetration of a whopping 39.5%. The woman I was talking to gasped. "That is NOTHING like the concentrations we are spraying."
That's right. The logging company spraying glyphosate all over our forests were aghast at what the MTO is spraying in our ditches. She tried to reassure me that they were not spraying the same thing.
A refresher: Methsulfuron-Methyl has vast government regulations. Even if you have a liscence, you can only spray it in certain locations. It is not for residential use and must be sprayed with a buffer zone away from waterways and water drainage. Unless you're an overpaid underworked lay-about MTO employee who didn't actually research what you are approving some to sub-sub-sub-contractor to spray all over pristine N.W. Ontario lakes and rivers.
Metsulfuron-Methyl (C14H15N5O6S) also gets a free pass for the same reason that Bath Salts get away from the law. They change one molecule from the substance - it does the same essential thing, but is now a different name with different legalities. Metsulfuron-Methyl IS a "forever chemical", but they get away with using it because it is a few carbon atoms shy of the official definition of a forever chemical. ...Even though it remains in the soil/water for YEARS. YEARS.
At the same time as the peoples of Grassy Narrows are protesting mercury poisoning, I think it's important to really seriously question what the out-of-touch elites in the Ministries are doing to us. Oh wait, nevermind, Carney has specific words for this situation: He can OUTLAST us. 💀
