00:00:00.000Well, it was only a matter of time until Canadian farmers began protesting and pushing back against the self-destructive climate agenda that is destroying one of our country's most crucial industries.
00:00:18.000Farmers in Murmuski, Quebec gathered in the hundreds to protest the provincial government's upcoming budget as farmers are becoming squeezed by crippling regulations and a spike in the cost of fuel and equipment.
00:00:30.000Interesting, because farmers across Europe are protesting the exact same thing.
00:00:36.000The European Union's Green Deal climate policies and taxes on diesel fuel have triggered mass protests across the continent.
00:00:44.000Well, farmers in Quebec are now faced with an existential crisis. That is why they are now protesting.
00:00:49.000Net income for Quebec farmers has dropped by over 85% in the last two years.
00:01:33.000We'll take a look at the scenes out of Rimouski, Quebec on Friday.
00:01:36.000If you've been following the European farmer protests like we have, these scenes in Quebec will look awfully familiar to you.
00:01:43.000Hundreds of farmers traveled from the Bas-Saint-Laurent and the Gaspaisy region traveled to Rimouski to participate in a protest on Friday organized by the Federation of the Union of Agricultural Producers of the Bas-Saint-Laurent area.
00:01:58.000These farmers formed a massive convoy of tractors to protest outside of the Agriculture Ministry offices.
00:02:04.000One farmer's sign at this protest translated to English read very clearly.
00:02:17.000Well, if you've been waiting for Canadian farmers to start protesting our government over crippling self-destructive climate policies and overburdening regulations,
00:02:26.000while our brothers in Quebec have finally taken to the streets.
00:02:41.000And when you start to see what these regulations have done to the bottom line of Quebec farmers, the only question you'll be left with is why it has taken them so far.
00:03:02.000And when you start to see what these regulations have done to the bottom line of Quebec farmers, the only question you'll be left with is why it has taken them so long to start protesting.
00:03:12.000Take a look at what's been going on to our farmers in Quebec, alright?
00:03:16.000In 2022, net income for Quebec farmers was just under a billion dollars.
00:03:25.000By 2023, a year later, Quebec farmers lost over 49% of their income, okay?
00:03:32.000So, half of their income was gone a year later.
00:03:35.000This year, however, farmers in Quebec are expected to lose over 86% of their income.
00:03:41.000$959 million in 2022 to $66 million in 2024, net income.
00:03:49.000Losses of that magnitude have not been recorded since 1938.
00:03:55.000Find me any other industry, maybe one that doesn't keep us all alive, like agriculture, that can possibly handle an 86.5% loss in net income.
00:04:05.000These record low profits are all due to the rising cost of fuel, fertilizer, and equipment.
00:04:11.000Now, you don't need to be a genius or a farmer to understand that farmers operate with some of the slimmest margins.
00:04:18.000Farmers have to spend millions of dollars on state-of-the-art equipment in order to create great Canadian food.
00:04:25.000Which means they have to sell food in order to sustain their businesses.
00:04:29.000Now, how many farmers do you think will end up having to go out of business when you're faced with an over 86% decrease in net income?
00:04:36.000It's absolutely frightening when you think about it.
00:04:38.000Now, the massive farmer protests across Europe have been over the exact same issues.
00:04:48.000Now, wouldn't it be interesting if True North had the receipts which show that the Canadian government views the European climate policies targeting the agriculture industry and farmers as inspiration, as a blueprint to follow for success?
00:05:03.000A 2021 copy of a speech delivered by Justin Trudeau's then agriculture minister shows that Canada's climate and agriculture policies were, quote,
00:05:12.000very closely aligned with the European Union's farm to fork strategy.
00:05:16.000Which, of course, meant a fertilizer emissions reduction scheme.
00:05:19.000The federal government wants Canadian farmers to achieve a 30% reduction in fertilizer-based greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.
00:05:27.000A report by the Alberta Wheat and Barley Commission in 2022 on the federal government's fertilizer emissions reduction scheme says very clearly,
00:05:37.000Reaching a 30% reduction is not realistically achievable without imposing significant costs on Canada's crop producers and potentially damaging the financial health of Canada's crop production sector.
00:05:49.000European governments and Justin Trudeau's government in Canada believe that in order to somehow solve climate change, farmers need to be the ones at the tip of the spear,
00:05:58.000completely changing how they operate for decades and generations in order to somehow reduce emissions.
00:06:04.000Now, these policies have likely been cooked up by people who've never spent a day in their life working on a farm,
00:06:11.000but yet somehow believe as though they have the moral authority to dictate to the people who literally keep us alive how they need to change their practices to achieve some arbitrary climate reduction level.
00:06:25.000They need to start operating electric tractors.
00:06:27.000They need to get away from diesel fuel, that dangerous diesel fuel.
00:06:31.000Their fertilizer needs to change to become some low nitrogen mixture.
00:06:35.000That is the worst idea I've ever heard in my life, Tom.
00:06:41.000Add on top of all of that, an outrageous and growing list of regulations that farmers need to follow.
00:06:47.000Now, whenever I look at political ideas, especially ones adopted by Justin Trudeau,
00:06:52.000I always try to remember Hanlon's razor, never attribute to malice that which can adequately be explained by stupidity.
00:06:58.000Seeing as how European farmers and Quebec farmers are suffering from existential losses due to these climate policies,
00:07:04.000why would any government continue with this?
00:07:06.000Why would they not want to make sure that farmers, the people who put food in our table, can continue to operate in our country?
00:07:13.000Unless, however, we had a government that was in fact so malicious that their ultimate goal was to drive farmers out of business,
00:07:20.000to put the government in the business of food production.
00:07:23.000To make the people fully reliant on the government in order to stay alive, and to put food on their own table.
00:07:29.000I think we've seen how that has worked out in the past, and something tells me it's not going to work out in this country either.
00:07:35.000So, Canada, let's get behind the farmers in Quebec, encourage them to protest, let's get the farmers out across the country to protest as well.
00:07:42.000Make no mistake about it, this is existential.
00:07:45.000Alright everyone, that's going to do it for us today on the show, thank you so much for tuning in.
00:07:48.000My name is Harrison Faulkner, and this is Ratio.