While some have praised aspects of the plan, others have condemned the lack of attention paid to agriculture and farmers.

The Canadian Cattle Association (CCA) stated that they were “cautiously optimistic” to see recognition of the effectiveness of the livestock deferral tax in an April 16 news release.

“Beef producers are encouraged to see the Livestock Tax Deferral in Budget 2024 and we are hopeful that meaningful change will come quickly as we head into another extremely dry season in Western Canada,” CCA President Nathan Phinney was quoted as saying in the release.

He continued by saying that he felt the announcement was “an indication that the government will make a change and work with ranchers to find a solution that addresses extreme weather challenges for producers across the country.”

CCA also praised the budget’s efforts toward supporting the Copyright act.

Dairy Farmers of Canada (DFC) said in an April 16 release that they welcome the “capital gains exemption on the sale of small business shares and farming and fishing property to $1.25 million,” as most dairy farmers own land.

They also acknowledged the government’s announcement of a national school lunch program: “Dairy products are a source of fifteen essential nutrients and are a top contributor of protein and calcium in the diets of Canadian children.”

The DFC went on to note the government’s commitment to help protect farmers from the effects of climate change, but said they were “disappointed that the government has not taken this opportunity to specifically commit to revising Canada’s business risk management programs for agriculture.”

Other organizations’ reactions were more negative.

The Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA) said in their own April 17 release that they were “disappointed to see a lack of investment in Canadian agriculture in the 2024 budget.”

CFA President Keith Currie acknowledged the government’s “competing priorities” in the release, but also said that “the government can ill-afford to ignore food production and Canadian farmers.”

The CFA made note of what it called “positive investments,” such as the launch of interoperability consultations and carbon rebates for small businesses, but lamented that “there was no mention of pivotal issues for the sector such as investments in environmental programming, chronic labour issues in food production or improvements to transportation and trade infrastructure.”

“If Canadian agriculture is to seize its full economic and climate potential,” Currie was quoted as saying, “we cannot keep missing opportunities while our international competitors continue to invest in their agriculture industries.”

The Wheat Growers Association was particularly critical of the budget, calling it “woefully bloated” and saying it “falls short in addressing Canadian farmers’ real concerns.”

Their April 16 news release criticized the government for not understanding the impacts of the carbon tax on wheat growers.

“Once again, the federal government has missed the opportunity to support agriculture and those that work in the industry,” Chair Daryl Fransoo was quoted as saying.

“The real issues impacting us are the cumulative effect of the carbon tax on everything that we do, the growing need to have coordinated grain research, increased funding for the PMRA, and industry efficiency through an improved Canada Grains Act.”

They mentioned the failure to pass bill C-234, which they said would provide “immediate relief to grain farmers from the negative impact of the carbon tax on grain drying.”

The Grain Growers of Canada (GGC) made similar complaints. Their April 16 press release expressed disappointment in the lack of any update to the Canada Grains Act.

“The Canada Grains Act is the enabling legislation that supports grain farmers and needs to be modernized to reflect the realities of 2024,” GGC Executive Director Kyle Larkin said in the statement.

“Unfortunately, this budget has shortcomings in key policy priorities for farmers, such as infrastructure, innovation, tax incentives, and delays in other policy areas.”

The post Federal budget draws mixed reaction from Canadian ag groups appeared first on Farmtario.

Ford was a surprise speaker on the Grain Farmers of Ontario March Classic program. It was the first time that Ford had spoken at the March Classic.

“I also want to give a huge shout out to all the hard-working farmers and vendors for everything you do to protect your food supply chain and put food on our table,” he said during the grain farmer organization’s annual networking, speaker and trade show event in London March 19.

Ford had no new program update to give, but spent his time committing not to raise taxes and touting his government’s record.

He touted Ontario’s massive growth of 800,000 new people in 2023, which he says was larger than the population growth of Florida and Texas combined.

Ford says he’ll continue to advocate for the passage of Bill C-234.

“All carbon tax schemes, they’re absolutely awful. They take money out of people’s pockets, they increase the cost of every product you produce.”

The Ford government recently passed a bill that requires the government to hold a referendum before levying any carbon tax. Ontario doesn’t have its own carbon  pricing system, but it is under the federal pricing scheme.

He also promoted the government’s plan to emphasize buying in Ontario versus lower cost product in government procurement.

“Americans get away with it, so let’s start doing it,” he said.

The post Ford continues to support carbon tax relief appeared first on Farmtario.

Bill C-234: An Act to amend the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act includes an exemption from the carbon tax, or pricing, for fuel used to dry grain.

Late last year, the Senate voted to amend Bill C-234 to remove greenhouse and barn heating from the proposed exemptions, and to reduce the bill’s sunset clause to three years from eight. This left only the proposed exemption for fuels used to dry grain.

When Parliament resumed Jan. 29, Ontario Conservative MP Ben Lobb tabled a motion to essentially reject the Senate’s amendments to the bill.

In a statement released Jan. 30, Grain Farmers of Ontario Chair Brendan Byrne said “Canadian farmers need to know that our federal government will support them as they work to put food on the plates of every Canadian. The carbon tax has proven to be an unbearable new cost for farms – and it is increasing every year. Passing this bill would provide our farmers some relief as they work to dry grain and ready it for food production.”

“Grain drying isn’t a nicety, it’s actually a necessity. Wet grain must be dried quickly or it can quickly spoil. We are being taxed on a necessary process for food production,” continued Byrne.

Debra Conlon, director of government relations for Grain Farmers of Ontario, said in an email statement to Farmtario, “We have been working on this exemption for years and we need it put in place so that farmers don’t have to pay the carbon tax on drying their grain.

“We have done what it takes to prove to both the Senate of Canada and the House of Commons that there are no alternatives for grain drying and that an exemption is warranted.  The politicians and senators that want to see this bill come into law need to find the path that makes the most sense. With a minority government and independent senate, that path might vary from what we originally thought, but the main point is to support farmers and find a good way to pass a bill that will provide some relief from this growing financial burden.”

The post GFO seeks government support for passing Bill C-234 appeared first on Farmtario.

“We are very hopeful that Members of Parliament will continue to show their support for farmers and that they won’t flip flop and change their vote,” said Dave Carey, co-chair of the Agriculture Carbon Alliance.

Bill C-234, which would amend the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Price Act, was once again the subject of debate as Parliament resumed Jan. 29. Conservative MP Ben Lobb tabled a motion to essentially reject the Senate’s amendments to the bill.

In an email exchange, Carey explained that if this motion is carried, the amendments made in the Senate would be eliminated. However, the bill would return to the Senate for another reading.

Late last year, the Senate voted to amend Bill C-234 to remove greenhouse and barn heating from the proposed exemptions, and to reduce the bill’s sunset clause to three years from eight. This left only the proposed exemption for fuels used to dry grain.

If the motion passes, Carey said he doubted the Senate would try to amend the bill again.

“That would raise a legitimate question of constitutionality and the role of the Senate,” he said.

When the bill passed its third reading in the House of Commons in March 2023, it did so with support from the NDP, Bloc Quebecois, Conservatives and a few Liberal MPs. Today, alongside Conservative MPs, NDP MP Alistair MacGregor spoke in favour of the motion, as did Liberal MP Kody Blois. Liberal MP Kevin Lamoureux spoke against it.

Bloc Quebecois leader Yves Perron, speaking through French translation, said his party is in favour of Bill C-234 but said he was concerned that the bill would be embroiled in a ping-pong match between houses.

He suggested the bill should be passed as-is while it’s in the House’s grasp.

“We have a gain now on the grain drying. I think we should take it,” Perron said in an interview, adding that further work could be done afterward to get an exemption for building heating.

He cited the partisan environment exhibited in the Senate, which included accusations of intimidation during debate around the bill.

“If we send back the bill to the Senate, well, when will it come back?” he said.

Perron said he’s in favour of widespread carbon price exemptions for agriculture because of the need to compete with subsidized farmers in the U.S. and E.U.

The motion did not go to a vote today. Carey said he’s hopeful it could be voted on next Tuesday.

Proponents of Bill C-234 are concerned it will be endlessly delayed and die on the order paper.

“With the carbon price set up to increase this April again, we are urging the Liberals not to delay it and to let it go to a vote as soon as possible,” Carey said.

The post Motion to quash Bill C-234 amendments put to MPs appeared first on Farmtario.

“We are very hopeful that Members of Parliament will continue to show their support for farmers and that they won’t flip flop and change their vote,” said Dave Carey, co-chair of the Agriculture Carbon Alliance.

Bill C-234, which would amend the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Price Act, was once again the subject of debate as Parliament resumed today. Conservative MP Ben Lobb tabled a motion to essentially reject the Senate’s amendments to the bill.

In an email exchange, Carey explained that if this motion is carried, the amendments made in the Senate would be eliminated. However, the bill would return to the Senate for another reading.

Late last year, the Senate voted to amend Bill C-234 to remove greenhouse and barn heating from the proposed exemptions, and to reduce the bill’s sunset clause to three years from eight. This left only the proposed exemption for fuels used to dry grain.

If the motion passes, Carey said he doubted the Senate would try to amend the bill again.

“That would raise a legitimate question of constitutionality and the role of the Senate,” he said.

When the bill passed its third reading in the House of Commons in March 2023, it did so with support from the NDP, Bloc Quebecois, Conservatives and a few Liberal MPs. Today, alongside Conservative MPs, NDP MP Alistair MacGregor spoke in favour of the motion, as did Liberal MP Kody Blois. Liberal MP Kevin Lamoureux spoke against it.

Bloc Quebecois MP Yves Perron, speaking through French translation, said he is is in favour of Bill C-234 but said he was concerned that the bill would be embroiled in a ping-pong match between houses.

He suggested the bill should be passed as-is while it’s in the House’s grasp.

“We have a gain now on the grain drying. I think we should take it,” Perron said in an interview, adding that further work could be done afterward to get an exemption for building heating.

He cited the partisan environment exhibited in the Senate, which included accusations of intimidation during debate around the bill.

“If we send back the bill to the Senate, well, when will it come back?” he said.

Perron said he’s in favour of widespread carbon price exemptions for agriculture because of the need to compete with subsidized farmers in the U.S. and E.U.

The motion did not go to a vote today. Carey said he’s hopeful it could be voted on next Tuesday.

Proponents of Bill C-234 are concerned it will be endlessly delayed and die on the order paper.

“With the carbon price set up to increase this April again, we are urging the Liberals not to delay it and to let it go to a vote as soon as possible,” Carey said.

–Updated Jan. 30. A previous version referred to Yves Perron as leader of the Bloc Quebecois.

The post Motion to squash Bill C-234 amendments put to MPs  appeared first on Farmtario.

Yesterday evening, senators read Bill C-234, An Act to amend the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act, for the third time, and passed it.

The bill received two amendments in the Senate. On Monday, senators voted to reduce the bill’s sunset clause to three years from eight. Previously, senators amended the bill to remove barn and greenhouse heating from proposed carbon price exemptions in the bill.

Farm groups and government officials aligned with the bill have expressed concerns that, since the bill must now be returned to the House of Commons for further debate, it will be delayed until it dies on the order paper.

According to its online schedule, the House of Commons will rise for the year on Dec. 15.

—Geralyn Wichers is associate digital editor of AGCanada.com. She writes from southeastern Manitoba.

The post Twice-amended Bill C-234 clears Senate appeared first on Farmtario.

Senator Yuen Pau Woo introduced the amendment on Dec. 7, saying it would align it with the deadline on the Liberal government’s heating oil carbon price exemption.

This is the second amendment to Bill C-234, An Act to amend the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act. The first amendment removed fuels for heating barns and greenhouses from exemptions proposed in the bill.

Farm groups and government officials aligned with the bill have expressed concerns that, since the bill must now be returned to the House of Commons for further debate, it will be delayed until it dies on the order paper. Senators aligned against the bill have been accused of using delay tactics to try to kill a bill the Liberal government doesn’t like.

Today, the National Farmers Union (NFU) released a statement calling on political parties to prioritize and pass the bill.

In the statement, former NFU vice-president Glenn Wright said that while the NFU supports a price on carbon in general, farmers don’t have viable alternatives for drying grain.

“Because farmers are so climate-dependent—so vulnerable—it is in farmers’ interests that Canada and all nations reduce emissions as quickly as possible. Canada’s pollution-pricing system is a crucial part of that effort,” he said. “In this one case, however, because there are no alternative grain drying options for farmers, a temporary exemption is the right policy.”

He also said an amendment to remove an exemption on fuels for building heating creates a “pressing need” for financing and incentives for farmers to adopt more efficient heating options.

“The NFU recognizes that farmers can improve building efficiency and switch heating sources to clean technologies like heat pumps, but these renovations are capital intensive and farmers will need extensive financial support to decarbonize the heating of barns and greenhouses,” he said.

–updated Dec. 12 to add by how many years the sunset clause is reduced. 

—Geralyn Wichers is associate digital editor of AGCanada.com. She writes from southeastern Manitoba.

–

The post Senate votes to shorten sunset clause on beleaguered Bill C-234 appeared first on Farmtario.

This would align it with the deadline on the Liberal government’s heating oil carbon price exemption, said Senator Yuen Pau Woo, who tabled the amendment.

Bill C-234 proposes exempting fuels for grain drying from the price on carbon. It was recently amended to remove fuels for barn and greenhouse heating from the proposed exemptions.

Senator Woo’s amendment, if passed, would reduce the bill’s sunset clause to three years from eight.

“In my view, Bill C-234 is not good public policy,” said Woo. “This is why I oppose it as much as I oppose the Liberal government’s exemption for home heating oil.”

“Unfortunately, we have no ability to debate the home heating oil exemption,” he added.

Senator David Wells, who sponsored the bill in the Senate, spoke in opposition to the amendment. He said that while in committee debates in the House of Commons, MPs had agreed to reduce the sunset clause from 10 years to eight.

“There was no debate at committee on that in the other place, and they all agreed that eight years was fair,” Wells said. “Now we’re hearing from Senator Woo that not 10 years, not eight years, but three years is fair.”

Debate adjourned before the amendment could go to a vote.

Meanwhile, Senators agreed to send earlier complaints of bullying to the Senate’s ethics committee for further examination. This relates to a question of privilege raised in late November by Senator Raymonde Saint-Germain, which alleged some Conservative senators attempted to intimidate colleagues into giving way on the bill.

—Geralyn Wichers is associate digital editor of AGCanada.com. She writes from southeastern Manitoba.

The post Senate tables second amendment for Bill C-234 appeared first on Farmtario.

“Senators have explained how they felt threatened and intimidated in the performance of their duties, here where we should model the best behaviour for our fellow citizens,” said speaker Raymonde Gagné in her decision yesterday.

The question of privilege, raised by Senator Raymond Saint-Germain on Nov. 21, relates to incidents on Nov. 9 when, after debate over an amendment to Bill C-234 was abruptly adjourned, Saint-Germain alleged that Conservative Senator Don Plett confronted her and Senator Bernadette Clement. Bill C-234 proposed to exempt farm fuels for grain drying, barn and greenhouse heating from the carbon price.

“After violently throwing his earpiece, (Plett) stood before Senator Clement and me as we sat at our desks, yelling and berating us for proposing this routine motion that would see debate resume the following week, when we returned,” Saint-Germain said.

Plett later acknowledged he had lost his temper and tearfully apologized before the Senate.

Saint-Germain also said, “at least two” Conservative senators retweeted a post on social media platform X “that not only spread misinformation about the proceedings but encouraged members of the public to call and harass” Clement and Senator Chantal Petitclerc, adding that it “elicited high volumes of threatening phone calls and emails to these independent senators.”

In her decision, which she read in the Senate, Gagné added that some Senators were threatened with other penalties if they did not “give way and concede to a particular outcome.” This included threats of blocking work in committee or the chamber.

“All these events can be understood as attempts to intimidate colleagues and to unduly constrain, or even extract retribution against them in the performance of their duties,” Gagné said.

Following the decision, Gagné read a motion, tabled by Senator Raymonde Saint-Germain, for the question of privilege to be referred to the Senate’s ethics committee. The motion went to debate, which adjourned before a vote.

On Nov. 21, following Saint-Germain’s question of privilege, Conservative Senator David Wells then put forward a separate question of privilege stemming from the same Nov. 9 sitting, saying Moncion had “walked over from her seat and accused me of bullying” after the session was suspended.

Moncion replied that she was not threatening in her approach but apologized to Wells and the chamber. Wells said he considered the issue closed.

Yesterday, the Senate voted by a narrow margin to amend Bill C-234 to remove barn and greenhouse heating from the bill. Fuels for grain drying remain exempted in the bill.

The bill was then put up for debate ahead of a third reading. Debate adjourned before it could go to a vote, and will likely resume today.

Farm groups and Senators aligned with the bill have said they fear an amendment, which will likely send the bill back to the House of Commons for further debate, will essentially kill the bill.

–Geralyn Wichers is associate digital editor of AGCanada.com. She writes from southeastern Manitoba.

The post Senate speaker rules members bullied other senators over Bill C-234 appeared first on Farmtario.

The amendment, put forward by Senator Pierre Dalphond, passed by one vote–40 Senators voted yes, 39 voted no, and none abstained. It amends Bill C-234, a private members bill designed to exempt farm fuels for grain drying, barn and greenhouse heating from the price on carbon.

The bill, once it has been read for a third time in the Senate, will return to the House of Commons to be debated again.

In recent weeks the bill has proved a lightning rod for controversy.

Conservatives have accused the Liberal government of running interference on the bill. Conservative agriculture critic John Barlow suggested the Liberals had appointed five new senators to bolster votes against the bill. Conservative senators also said that amendments, which would send the bill back to the House of Commons, were a tactic to endlessly stall the bill until it died on the order paper. As per the House of Commons’ calendar, posted to its website, the final sitting day for the house is December 15.

Meanwhile, Senators who have aligned themselves against the bill accused Conservative senators of bullying and inciting harassment via social media.

The amendment may have expedited the inevitable. Earlier today, Dave Carey, the Canadian Canola Growers Association’s vice-president of government and industry relations, told AGCanada he’d been hearing that a Senator had another amendment lined up if this one failed.

In a post to social media platform X (formerly Twitter), Carey called the vote “Unbelievably disappointing.”

More to come.

—Geralyn Wichers is associate digital editor of AGCanada.com. She writes from southeastern Manitoba.

The post Senate votes to amend Bill C-234 appeared first on Farmtario.