Multiple farm groups expressed disappointment over an amendment to Bill C-234, which will not only remove barn and greenhouse heating from a proposed exemption from the carbon price but will also delay the bill’s progress.
“Its alteration by the Senate not only diminishes [carbon price] relief but also increases the cost of Canadian food production,” Jan VanderHout, president of the Fruit and Vegetable Growers of Canada, said in a release Friday.
“It’s disheartening to witness this lost opportunity for meaningful impact,” he added.
In a meeting Thursday, the Senate committee for agriculture and forestry voted to amend C-234, An Act to amend the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act. Initially, the bill proposed to exempt fuels used for grain drying and barn and greenhouse heating, from the price on carbon.
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Senator Pierre Dalphond proposed the amendment, telling the committee that while witnesses had made it clear there were no viable alternatives to drying grain with propane and natural gas, alternatives are possible with barns and greenhouses.
Better insulation, in-floor heating, geothermal and air-source heat pumps and energy-efficient ventilation systems were among the alternatives he suggested were available and were already being used in some applications due to incentives from carbon pricing.
“This amendment will maintain the financial incentive to reduce emissions from raising livestock in barns by investing in alternative or efficient barn heating or cooling, an option available right now,” Dalphond said.
This will also discourage other sectors from trying to get exemptions, he added — a point of concern from some senators and witnesses during committee hearings.
Senator Don Plett argued the amendment shouldn’t go forward because it would delay the bill, which he said had already passed in the House of Commons with support from the Green, Bloc Quebecois, NDP and Conservative parties.
Farm organizations are upset that a “handful of senators are, as they see it, are playing games with their livelihood,” he said.
If bills are amended at the Senate level, they must be debated again in the Commons.
Plett also accused Senators Dalphond and Yuen Pau Woo — who spoke in favour of the amendment — of delaying the bill at the Liberal government’s bidding.
Woo, in turn, suggested Plett was trying get the Senate to kowtow to the House of Commons’ wishes.
Senator Brent Cotter said he had other amendments he’d like considered but didn’t want to delay the bill. He argued that the Liberal government wants agriculture to be a pillar of the economy.
“This modest adjustment to the greenhouse gas tax burdens is a signal of our commitment to that economy and to the people who deliver the product,” Cotter said.
Senator Michael MacDonald said farm diesel and gasoline has already been exempted, so he didn’t see why other fuels shouldn’t be exempted.
The amendment passed 7-6, with one senator abstaining.
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation called on Dalphond to withdraw the amendment.
“Why would senators want to make it more expensive for Canadian farmers to produce milk and eggs?” said Gage Haubrich, Prairie director for the CTF. “Dalphond needs to withdraw his amendment to hammer barn-heating bills with carbon taxes and get this legislation passed.”
The Grain Farmers of Ontario on Wednesday called on senators to pass the bill quickly.
“With grain farmers from across Ontario now busy harvesting their crops and grain drying on the immediate horizon, they are counting on Bill C-234 becoming law as soon as possible to provide financial relief this growing season,” Brendan Byrne, chair of Grain Farmers of Ontario, said in a statement.
The bill was first introduced in the House of Commons in 2021.
At time of writing, the committee was scheduled to continue its clause-by-clause deliberation of the bill on Tuesday (Oct. 24).
— Geralyn Wichers reports for Glacier FarmMedia from Steinbach, Man.
