Bills, bills everywhere. The federal government has plenty to vote on and examine at committee but the bills that astonish many farmers are the ones from their energy utilities and providers.
Especially annoying are the line items related to the carbon tax.
Last June, private member’s Bill 206 was passed by the House of Commons. It was an amendment to the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act, a.k.a. the federal carbon tax. The original act provided exemptions for qualifying farm fuel, but left out propane and natural gas used for heating and grain drying.
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Despite opposition from the governing Liberal party members, C-206 was passed, heard at Commons committee and reached first reading in the Senate nearly a year ago. It died on the order paper when the federal election was called.
A new private member’s bill, C-234, is a revival of C-206’s amendments and is now winding its way through the Commons committee stage. It passed Parliament with the support of opposition parties and a lone Liberal MP. The bill includes grain drying and farm heating exemptions.
Federal agriculture minister Marie-Claude Bibeau voted against the bill.
Last week she announced more investments, $15.2 million, spread among nearly 50 projects, for greenhouse gas reduction projects and research in agriculture.
That money feeds the Agricultural Clean Technology program that is already funding grants of up to $50,000, capped at 50 percent, for new grain dryers or barn heating systems that are, in theory, more efficient than the existing technology used by producers. ACT was well adopted by farmers last year but newer technology only brings marginal savings on energy costs for most producers. Still, it is helpful for those in a position to expand on or replace older equipment.
For most producers, newer technologies will not reduce costs by the amounts equal to new and expanding carbon taxes, let alone be recovered when capital costs are added to the calculation. And the $1.73 per $1,000 of farm expenses federal tax credit in provinces without a carbon agreement is a small dent in the new tax being paid by producers.
All reductions in carbon release are important, but the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act, touted to be revenue neutral, is an unfair charge against farmers and an unreasonable burden for an industry that must compete against global commodity competition.
Farmers in Ontario, Quebec and the northern half of the prairie provinces and British Columbia generally rely on grain drying to get their products to market. There are no other crop alternatives that would avoid the requirement for supplemental heat. There are no new technologies they can use to dry their crops.
The same applies to heating for buildings — greenhouses and livestock barns — through long Canadian winters.
Farmers cannot pass along new costs to end users. Their competitors, only hours to the south or overseas and already closer to markets, don’t have these costs.
The carbon tax applied in the farming context is not a modern tax, one that can shift behaviour to more desirable outcomes. It is a fee to farm.
Canadian agriculture is based on the efficient use of inputs, most of which release greenhouse gases at some point. The carbon tax is a stick. There is no carrot. Small wonder farmers disagree with its imposition.
The NDP, Bloc and Conservatives are ushering C-234 through, but the government should have avoided the need for it by keeping to its original commitments about farm fuel exemptions.
Karen Briere, Bruce Dyck, Barb Glen and Mike Raine collaborate in the writing of Western Producer editorials.
