Editorial: Provincial budget offers little for agriculture

Editorial: Provincial budget offers little for agriculture

While early spring signals the return of better weather and the start of a new planting season, it’s also budget time. Late March is when provincial governments release their yearly budgets, with the federal government following later in April. Ontario tabled it’s $214 billion ‘Building a Better Ontario’ budget on March 26. The budget projects […] Read more

Ontario farmers will continue to pay more this planting season than many of their Canadian counterparts.

Editorial: Budgets lacking for farmers

There is always a sense of trepidation when a government announces it will table its annual budget. Many industries, agriculture included, hold their collective breath in anticipation of seeing whether their lobby efforts come to fruition. The Ontario government released its 2023 budget on March 23. Overall, public spending will increase a little over two […] Read more

(File photo by Dave Bedard)

Railways push back on feds’ proposed interswitching revival

Railways also oppose ban on replacement workers

With Easter less than two weeks away, an Easter egg in the federal government’s 2023 budget calls for a new pilot program to again provide Prairie grain shippers with extended interswitching. Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s budget, released Tuesday, laid out a list of investments to “further strengthen Canada’s transportation systems and supply chain infrastructure.” A […] Read more

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland walk with copies of the 2023-24 budget on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on March 28, 2023. (Photo: Reuters/Patrick Doyle)

Interest-free cash advances get extra lift in federal budget

Fertilizer diversification, solids non-fat processing also up for funding

Federal Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s latest budget envelope for Canadian farmers up against rising costs of production includes a temporary boost to the interest-free portion of cash advances. Freeland’s 2023 federal budget, released Tuesday, includes $13 million in 2023-24 for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada to temporarily increase the interest-free limit for loans under its Advance […] Read more

Editorial: Pre-election budget misses the mark

Editorial: Pre-election budget misses the mark

Ontario’s Progressive Conservative party released its pre-election budget April 28. As the Legislature dissolved the following week, the budget essentially serves as a campaign platform leading up to the June 2 provincial election.  The $198.6 billion, 268-page budget didn’t have many surprises. Titled “Ontario’s Plan to Build,” it outlines major commitments previously announced, but with […] Read more


Insulators for electric fencing will be a black-and-white PST-exempt expense for ranchers in Saskatchewan starting April 1, 2022. (Gallagher.com)

Saskatchewan clarifying certain on-farm PST exemptions

More items to be specified as exempt in tax regulations

Saskatchewan farmers’ and ranchers’ concerns about some inconsistencies in how and when provincial sales tax is applied to purchases of on-farm equipment will be dealt with in a revised list effective late next week. The province said Wednesday in a budget release that a “number of clarifications” will be made to its Provincial Sales Tax […] Read more

(Dave Bedard photo)

Saskatchewan budget aims to spur ag investment

Potash, crude oil resource revenues help cut deficit

Sweetening existing tax credits on big-ticket investments, and setting up a new Crown corporation to support Indigenous investors, are among the items expected to help encourage new value-added ag projects in Saskatchewan’s latest budget. Provincial Finance Minister Donna Harpauer on Wednesday released her 2022-23 budget with $17.6 billion in expenditures on $17.2 billion in revenues, […] Read more

(Thinkstock photo)

Federal budget plays to mixed reviews from ag groups

Funding for green initiatives, carbon pricing rebate plan hailed

The Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA) says it is “pleased” the 2021 federal budget included some of the recommendations it had made. Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s first budget, released April 19, included significant spending to help producers transition to a greener economy and cited agriculture as a foundational pillar of Canada’s future. “CFA will be […] Read more


Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland arrives to a news conference prior to delivering the budget in the House of Commons in Ottawa on April 19, 2021. (Photo: Reuters/Blair Gable)

Federal budget to offer direct payments to farmers for carbon pricing

Other new 'green growth' funding also on deck

The federal government’s 2021 budget offers up new spending to support farmers combatting climate change through targeted investments — and, in some cases, direct payments. Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland released the budget Monday, showing the majority of new spending will take place over three years and be largely focused on “green growth.” “Budget 2021 announces […] Read more

(Dave Bedard file photo)

Manitoba’s education tax phase-out begins

Budget pledges a 25 per cent rebate cheque in 2021; existing farmland school tax rebate to be reduced

Manitoba’s latest budget follows through on a move the government telegraphed in last fall’s throne speech, by starting a phased removal of education tax on farm and residential properties. Finance Minister Scott Fielding’s budget, released Wednesday, calls for about $248 million in education tax rebates in 2021 alone for about 658,000 property owners. Owners of […] Read more