People have been conditioned to believe that a lawn marred by dandelions is unacceptable. Municipalities spend money they can ill afford to waste on herbicides. Insecticides are also sprayed by municipalities in urban areas. Winnipeg is the most heavily sprayed city in Canada, due to the yearly effort to control mosquitoes. Wood preservatives are also classed as pesticides and can be extremely toxic.
Many products are now on the market as non-chemical alternatives.
For home lawn use, there are many safe alternatives as well as lawn care companies designed to meet the non-chemical market. First and foremost, reduce your and your family's exposure to pesticides. Buy organically grown food, both to protect your own health and to increase the market for non-chemically produced food. Put pressure on your municipality to stop using chemical pesticides in municipal open-space, especially near schools. Write newspapers and politicians to tell them you want tighter controls over pesticides and an overall reduction in pesticide use in Canada.