> About all I know about canola I read on the internet? 

Try the Canadian Honey Council, for starters.

> Canola is a Canadian success story. This oilseed crop has brought prosperity to many canola growers in the prairies. Over the last few years it has also contributed to an unprecedented growth in the number of honey bee colonies for pollination of hybrid seed canola.

> Commercially grown canola is predominantly a prairie crop. It is so common that 80% of Canada’s honey crop is from canola. This amounts to 50 million lb per year of Grade No 1 white honey. Approximately 300,000 colonies harvest open pollinated canola. The expanding hybrid seed production industry, where farmers produce seed under contract to the seed companies, required 80,000 colonies in 2008 for pollination in southern Alberta. 

> Most canola seeds are now treated with systemic insecticides such as Gaucho® (imidacloprid), Poncho® (chlothianidin) or Helix® (thiamethoxan). Although there is an expressed concern by many beekeepers around the world about the use of systemics, the experience in Canada is that we have had 10 years of large scale use on canola with no observed ill effect. This is not to let the systemics off the hook as there are some valid concerns about the application methods and residues in some other crops. 

> In the past there were more complaints from beekeepers about Lorsban (chlorpyrifos, an organophosphate) and Sevin (carbaryl or1-napthyl methylcarbamate). *For canola, the seed treatments, when applied according to label specifications do not appear to be an issue.*

Pollinating Hybrid Canola-the Southern Alberta Experience
Heather Clay, Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Honey Council, Calgary, AB 
Originally presented to NSW Apiarist Association, State Conference, July 10, 2009.

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