The pushback on the former NDP Provincial government's cosmetic pesticide ban has caused officials to reexamine the legislation.

A new framework for the application of pesticides is expected by the PCs by the end of the year.

"It's very encouraging that this government has opened up their ears to realize there's another side to this story," Winkler Mayor Martin Harder says. "Hopefully they can come up with a decent compromise that's going to work with everybody and the safety precautions will still be kept in place."

Harder was vocal in his concerns when the controversial legislation came into effect in 2015.

Banning the more effective products left municipalities with more expensive approved products that required more applications, with poorer results.

"We're in the middle of wanting to do a bang-up job in making sure the city is beautiful, we have a horticultural society that is enhancing the quality of the city... and not being able to control the weeds that infiltrate is not right," he says.

Visiting cities that have had similar bans, Harder says they've suffered under the proliferation of weeds, "it's been an absolute disaster."

Currently, homeowners can only use federally-approved pesticides.

"It takes away a sense of pride, we have a lot of very proud homeowners in this community," Harder says.

The legislation also restricts retailers to the sale of approved low-risk pesticide products.

"If the chemicals that are available and considered safe were effective, that would be one thing," he says, adding at times the chemicals available now cost five times more.

The agriculture sector, as well as golf course operations, are exempt.

Harder notes chemicals applied on a farm can only be done by a licensed applicator, "and maybe that's what we need to have," he says.

If the Province reopens the laws to allow cities to use the more powerful pesticides but applied in a safe, appropriate manner, "those are the things that make practical sense," Harder says.

"I'm glad that they're looking at it, and not simply caught up in the loud voices of environmentalists who went overboard last time around."

The laws hope to reduce the exposure of people and pets to pesticides used for cosmetic reasons.