The House of Commons Agriculture Committee (CAC) heard cabinet should suspend the carbon tax on farmers, food processors and retailers because it could be harmful to people, according to Blacklock’s Reporter. “That is why I am recommending a pause on the carbon tax for the entire food industry from farm gate to stores and restaurants,” said Dalhousie University’s Agri-Food Analytics Lab Senior Director Dr. Sylvain Charlebois at a CAC hearing. “Nobody, including the Bank of Canada, understands how this policy could compromise Canada’s food security over time.”With the carbon tax, Charlebois said it should be paused for all companies related to the food industry. He added people “don’t know exactly how the carbon tax will impact the industry’s competitiveness over time.”“What we’ve looked at is industrial prices and what we’re finding out is industrial prices in Canada — so up the food chain from farms to processing — the gap between Canada’s Industrial Product Price Index and the United States Index is increasing, which means we could compromise Canada’s food security over time,” he said. Conservative MP Lianne Rood (Lambton-Kent, ON) said the impact of the current carbon tax on gas was evident. “We are trying to find ways to lower the cost of food for Canadians, but it seems this government’s policies and input costs are a huge part of the cost of food for producers,” said Rood.NDP MP Alistair MacGregor (Cowichan-Malahat-Langford, BC) said there “is just too much of a focus on carbon pricing.” However, Charlebois pointed out industry margins were so modest all price fluctuations had an impact. “We do have access to firm-level data that we can’t share unfortunately for obvious reasons,” he said. “But we do see some companies struggling a lot more because of the low margins.”He acknowledged the carbon tax can have a large impact on an industry where margins are slim. Canadian Federation of Agriculture President Keith Currie said producers have faced extraordinary price hikes since the COVID-19 pandemic. “Machinery, fuel, fertilizer, livestock feed, the prices farmers pay have increased nearly 40% between 2019 and today,” said Currie.The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) called on the Canadian government to end its tax-on-tax policies in a move that would save Canadians $1 billion dollars per year by the end of the decade on January 23. READ MORE: Ending GST/carbon tax-on-tax would save Canadians $1 billion by 2030The Parliamentary Budget Office reported removing the GST paid on the carbon tax would save Canadians $486 million in 2024, increasing to more than $1 billion by 2030.“Given that the carbon price embedded in non-energy goods and services is not directly observable, there is uncertainty related to the feasibility of removing the GST related to the indirect costs of federal and provincial-territorial carbon pricing,” said the CTF.
