Trudeau’s carbon tax exemption bill sends farmers to the poorhouse

Amendments to Canada’s carbon tax exemption bill will cost farmers nearly $90 million in savings in 2026, according to the Parliamentary Budget Officer.

On December 12, Parliament passed Bill C-234, An Act to amend the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act, after removing fuel exemptions for heating or cooling buildings used to raise and house livestock or crops.

A further amendment lowered the sunset period of the bill from eight years to three. The original bill would have lasted until 2030, but the amended version will only run until 2026.

Three Liberal MPs initially favoured the Bill, including Heath MacDonald, Robert Morrissey, and Kody Blois. The latter comes from an agrarian riding.

Under the original bill, farmers would have saved $115 million in carbon taxes by 2026. The amended version will reduce those savings to just $26 million a year by the same date, reported Producer.

Liberal MP compares protesting farmers to Freedom Convoy

Liberal MP Leah Taylor Roy spoke out angrily against farmers protesting Trudeau's carbon tax and compared them to the Freedom Convoy.https://t.co/BkKPTQtUwX

— Rebel News Canada (@RebelNews_CA) November 23, 2023

The previous version of Bill C-234 would have saved farmers almost $978 million by 2030, if it became law. It passed a Commons vote of 176-146 on March 29, but faced considerable delays in the Senate to the chagrin of farmers.

Paula Simons, an independent, Liberal appointee from Alberta, said her support for relief included a narrowed exemption for grain drying, citing 'climate change.'

"Climate change isn’t something that might happen one day in the future; it's happening right here, right now and I do believe, in general, that carbon taxes are a good way to send a price signal to change behavior to deal with climate change,” she claimed last November.

At the time, farmers expressed immediate need for carbon tax relief to ease their fluctuating operation costs.

"We’ve seen like a 20-30 percent increase in the cost of natural gas on our farm […] as well as drying grain for a lot of producers across the country," said Jake Vermeer, the owner of Vermeer's Dairy.

By 2030, using natural gas will cost Saskatchewan farmers $28 million annually in carbon taxes, according to a separate but related PBO analysis published last September 15.

"The carbon tax is hugely impacting the entire food chain," added Vermeer, including the transportation of crops from his farm to a processor, and then a grocery store, and the consumer. 

A small but mighty group of Alberta farmers want carbon tax relief now, making it clear that Bill C-234 must pass amid protests outside a Liberal MP’s office.https://t.co/M9h826V09X

— Rebel News Canada (@RebelNews_CA) November 23, 2023

But Simons contends keeping the carbon tax would ensure Canadians "make the sacrifice" to save the planet from carbon emissions.

On April 1, the federal carbon tax will increase to $80 per tonne and will continue to rise by $15 per tonne annually until 2030.

"The impact of these costs on our farm operations needs to be recognized to ensure we can remain competitive in international markets," said Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan (APAS) President Ian Boxall. 

"Saskatchewan farms [will] pay over $40 million in carbon tax just to get their products to port,” he claimed. Typically, Saskatchewan grain travels 1,150 miles to port, with the carbon tax costing $0.1129 per railcar mile this year or over $36 million on 26 million tonnes of grain.

“This is money that comes right out of rural Saskatchewan. Farmers feel the impact of these costs in the prices they receive at the farm gate," said Boxall.