The Conservative shadow minister for agriculture, agri-food and food security has accused the Liberal government of “playing games” with a bill that would grant Canadian farmers a carbon price exemption for natural gas and propane used for barn heating and grain drying.
During a press event Nov. 21, MP John Barlow said the recent appointment of five new senators is a Liberal government strategy to gather enough senate votes to kill Bill C-234, an act to amend the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act.
At time of writing Nov. 21, the bill was up for its third reading in the Senate, and debate was ongoing over potential amendment that would see the mechanism to extend the bill’s sunset clause changed from by Governor-in-Council resolution and motions of the House of Commons and the Senate to requiring a bill.
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“The Liberals in the Senate are trying to kill Bill C-234 today and bury the news in the fall economic statement,” said Barlow, who also serves as MP of Foothills, referring to the 2023 fall economic statement, released the same day as his address to media.
“This critical bill earned all-party support in the House of Commons. But now Liberal-appointed senators and the Liberal government are playing games with the Senate after the activist environment minister promised no more carve outs for his prized carbon tax scheme.”
Barlow said the new senators have not participated in any reads or discussions on the bill, “So, it would be extremely disingenuous if those five new senators were to vote on this bill today.”
The senators, appointed Oct. 31, include Joan Kingston, John McNair, Krista Ross (all representing New Brunswick), Réjean Aucoin and Rodger Cuzner (both representing Nova Scotia).
Barlow also said that Canadian consumers would ultimately bear the brunt of farmers not getting a break on the use of these fuels.
“All Canadians rely on our farmers to be economically viable in a time when Canadians are struggling to put food on the table, with two million Canadians relying on food banks in the month of March alone. That’s unacceptable,” said Barlow.
“Food should not be a luxury and Liberal-appointed senators need to stop playing games with the livelihoods of Canadian farmers and playing hunger games with Canadian families.”
Proponents of the bill have argued that, in the case of grain drying, producers have little choice but to eat the cost of a price on carbon, since there are currently no viable clean fuel options to run grain dryers, while barn heating is an animal welfare issue.
Others have pointed to an eight-year sunset clause built into the bill, which would spark a review of the exemption at the end of that window.
Critics have questioned whether the bill, if passed, would limit incentive to develop those clean fuel options.
Barlow characterized Bill C-234 as a measure to fill oversights that were made when initial farm carbon price exemptions were being hammered out. He estimated that it would save farmers close to one billion dollars by 2030.
“This is much-needed financial relief for farmers who are already drowning in carbon taxes, input costs and higher interest rates,” he said.
Barlow criticized the “sudden” adjournment on the bill’s third reading in the Senate earlier in November, calling it a “clear and malicious attempt by the Liberal-appointed senators to obstruct this critical piece of legislation.”
Other Bill C-234 supporters were also on hand during the Nov. 21 press event.
Colin Chapdelaine of Star Produce, a marketer of greenhouse products in Alberta and B.C., told reporters that “The issue we have with this is competitiveness. Getting our inputs taxed higher when we export 80 per cent of our product to the U.S. puts us at a competitive disadvantage.
“We’re looking to have [Bill C-234] passed unamended so we can be on the same playing field as our partners in the U.S.”
Hessel Kielstra, president of Mountain View Poultry in Okotoks, Alta., estimated that the price of Bill C-234 failing to pass will be $480,000 per year for his business by 2030, an expense he said would have to be passed on to consumers.
“You can’t pass all things on,” he said. “A lot of farmers will fail because you won’t be able to do it economically.”
He suggested that reducing natural gas use would have serious welfare implications for the chicks on his operation.
— Jeff Melchior reports for Alberta Farmer Express from Edmonton.
