Farmers need protection from looming carbon tax increases the Commons agriculture committee was told Tuesday..The Liberals plan to hike carbon taxes every year, a move that could have a devastating impact on farmers, said Blacklock’s Reporter..“Farmers are struggling now,” said Conservative MP Philip Lawrence (Northumberland-Peterborough South, Ont.), sponsor of a bill to extend protection for farmers..“Our farmers are price takers. Unlike other industries, they cannot simply just push on the carbon tax to the consumer. They absorb it themselves.”.Parliament in 2018 passed the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act that capped the carbon tax at $50 per tonne, the equivalent of 12¢ per litre of gasoline, and exempted marked farm fuels..Bill C-206 An Act To Amend The Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act would expand exemptions to include on-farm use of propane and natural gas to fuel equipment like grain dryers..“I have personally seen bills for the carbon tax of tens of thousands of dollars,” Lawrence told the agriculture committee..“This is having a tremendous impact on farmers across Canada.”.The argument didn’t seem to sway some Liberals..“We’ve been back and forth in this country over carbon pricing for the past fifteen years, twenty years,” said Liberal MP Francis Drouin (Glengarry-Prescott, Ont.)..“I mean, at some point we have to move forward. I agree with the objectives of the bill but we all have to play our part in this. Are you advocating for a complete exemption forever or a partial exemption for the next ten years or fifteen years?”.“The bill does not have a date when it will end just like the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act,” replied MP Lawrence..“What I would say is this exemption will be more critical as the automatic escalators in the carbon tax go increasing year after year after year after year and they get higher and higher and higher.”.The Department of Environment prior to the 2019 election had promised carbon tax rates would not increase. However cabinet last December 11 said it would lift the cap by $15-per tonne yearly increments from a total $50 to $170 by 2030, a 240 percent increase..It is estimated the higher rate would add 27¢ to a litre of propane, 34¢ per cubic metre of natural gas, 40¢ more per litre of gasoline and 47¢ per litre of diesel..Conservative MP Warren Steinley (Regina-Lewvan) called Bill C-206 an interim measure..“Obviously this is something we’re doing because right now it’s not an option to repeal the carbon tax,” said Steinley..“Repealing the carbon tax is what we hear out in Saskatchewan as the first choice.”.The Supreme Court of Canada will rule this year on whether the original carbon tax is constitutional..“I don’t really want this bill to be a discussion about the carbon tax in total,” said MP Lawrence. “I just want to help farmers.”.Bill C-206 on February 24 passed Second Reading in the Commons by a vote of 177-145 over cabinet objections..Dave Naylor is the News Editor of the Western Standard.dnaylor@westernstandardonline.com.Twitter.com/nobby7694
Farmers need protection from looming carbon tax increases the Commons agriculture committee was told Tuesday..The Liberals plan to hike carbon taxes every year, a move that could have a devastating impact on farmers, said Blacklock’s Reporter..“Farmers are struggling now,” said Conservative MP Philip Lawrence (Northumberland-Peterborough South, Ont.), sponsor of a bill to extend protection for farmers..“Our farmers are price takers. Unlike other industries, they cannot simply just push on the carbon tax to the consumer. They absorb it themselves.”.Parliament in 2018 passed the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act that capped the carbon tax at $50 per tonne, the equivalent of 12¢ per litre of gasoline, and exempted marked farm fuels..Bill C-206 An Act To Amend The Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act would expand exemptions to include on-farm use of propane and natural gas to fuel equipment like grain dryers..“I have personally seen bills for the carbon tax of tens of thousands of dollars,” Lawrence told the agriculture committee..“This is having a tremendous impact on farmers across Canada.”.The argument didn’t seem to sway some Liberals..“We’ve been back and forth in this country over carbon pricing for the past fifteen years, twenty years,” said Liberal MP Francis Drouin (Glengarry-Prescott, Ont.)..“I mean, at some point we have to move forward. I agree with the objectives of the bill but we all have to play our part in this. Are you advocating for a complete exemption forever or a partial exemption for the next ten years or fifteen years?”.“The bill does not have a date when it will end just like the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act,” replied MP Lawrence..“What I would say is this exemption will be more critical as the automatic escalators in the carbon tax go increasing year after year after year after year and they get higher and higher and higher.”.The Department of Environment prior to the 2019 election had promised carbon tax rates would not increase. However cabinet last December 11 said it would lift the cap by $15-per tonne yearly increments from a total $50 to $170 by 2030, a 240 percent increase..It is estimated the higher rate would add 27¢ to a litre of propane, 34¢ per cubic metre of natural gas, 40¢ more per litre of gasoline and 47¢ per litre of diesel..Conservative MP Warren Steinley (Regina-Lewvan) called Bill C-206 an interim measure..“Obviously this is something we’re doing because right now it’s not an option to repeal the carbon tax,” said Steinley..“Repealing the carbon tax is what we hear out in Saskatchewan as the first choice.”.The Supreme Court of Canada will rule this year on whether the original carbon tax is constitutional..“I don’t really want this bill to be a discussion about the carbon tax in total,” said MP Lawrence. “I just want to help farmers.”.Bill C-206 on February 24 passed Second Reading in the Commons by a vote of 177-145 over cabinet objections..Dave Naylor is the News Editor of the Western Standard.dnaylor@westernstandardonline.com.Twitter.com/nobby7694
