OTTAWA –
A private member’s bill that would create specific exclusions for farmers in Canada’s carbon pricing scheme has passed the House of Commons.
The bill would exempt farmers from paying for the emissions of natural gas and propane they use for certain activities carried out on their farms, such as grain drying, food preparation, irrigation and barn heating.
It passed with the support of Conservative MPs, the NDP, Bloc Quebecois and the Green Party, with some Liberals, including agriculture committee chairman Kody Blois, joining opposition parties in voting for it.
The Private Members Bill introduced by Conservative MP Ben Lobb in February 2022, which would not exempt farmers from the carbon price for activities carried out off-site, will now be debated in the Senate.
Farmer groups have said they face rising production costs and that the proposed law would give them critical financial relief from rising costs.
The Agriculture Carbon Alliance, which was created by industry groups in 2021 in response to the climate policies of federal liberals and advocates of sustainable agriculture, celebrated the progress of the bill on Thursday.
“This legislation will provide farmers with the resources to invest in innovative and sustainable farming practices, while ensuring the stability of our food supply,” Dave Carey, co-chairman of the group, said in a statement.
The chief executive of one of its members, Grain Growers of Canada, said the law will offer significant relief if it passes.
“As long as we don’t have an alternative to fossil fuels, there’s no point in punishing Canadian farmers for growing food,” said Erin Gowriluk.
However, not everyone celebrates the advancement of the law.
Tim Gray, executive director of the advocacy group Environmental Defense, said the law would weaken the government’s response to climate change.
“Exempting these high-emissions activities from the carbon price for farmers will only further encourage other sectors to demand similar treatment,” it said in a statement.
“This is already a problem as many industries, especially the oil and gas sector, have successfully lobbied for a favorable deal, allowing them to pay a much lower carbon price than others, regardless of their lack of real degree of being energy intensive and exposed to trade”.
Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau says the federal government is helping farmers reduce their carbon footprint and ease financial burdens through a $3.5 billion sustainable agricultural partnership with the provinces.
The federal carbon price already has an exemption for the costs of gasoline and light fuel used in tractors and trailers.
But farm groups have long argued that more exemptions are needed and have at times questioned the federal government’s characterization of how much the carbon price is costing growers, especially when it comes to drying grain. Grain must be dried before it can be stored and sold, particularly during wet harvests.
The bill now before the Senate would only grant exemptions to farmers who dry grain on their property and would not apply to off-farm activities. The law also includes a sunset clause that would allow a government to add, remove or renew the exemptions in eight years.
An earlier bill introduced by a Conservative MP and widely supported by farm groups, which would have gotten similar exemptions, died in the order paper ahead of the 2021 federal election.
Bibeau responded to farmers’ concerns at the time by announcing dollars to help growers make their own grain-drying operations more environmentally sustainable.
The federal government says it is now spending $37.1 million on 99 grain-drying projects as part of its $495.7 million clean farm technology program.
Gowriluk said the Russian invasion of Ukraine has had an impact on the way federal politicians discuss farm policy, arguing that the conversation needs to focus on what Canada can do to help internationally.
An important part of that is “growing as much as we can,” he said.
“Canadian politicians increasingly recognize that this is not easy, and if there is anything they can do to ease the burden and help keep farmers green instead of red, then they are prepared to step up and do it. “. .”
Although it is rare for private members’ bills to make it all the way through Parliament, minority government situations can create greater cross-party collaboration.
A second private member’s bill focused on the Liberals’ climate policy passed in the House of Commons during the same session this week, with the support of Liberal MPs and ministers.
Green Party leader Elizabeth May proposed the law, which would require the government to develop a national strategy to tackle environmental racism within two years of its passage.
An earlier version of the bill, introduced by former Liberal MP Lenore Zann, also died in order paper in 2021 before the election.
May acknowledged this week during the debate on the bill that the law will require the government to play ball.
“Then you will need the support of the government of the day and the support of the finance minister to fund the programs so that communities of color, indigenous communities and poor communities are not left without access to environmental justice,” he said. parliamentarians
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on March 30, 2023.