The Blueprint: Canada's Conservative Podcast - How Trudeau’s Budget will further burden Canadian families

00:00:00.000 Hello and welcome once again to The Blueprints. This is Canada's Conservative Podcast. I'm your

00:00:08.300 host, Jamie Schmael, Member of Parliament for Halliburton, for the likes of Brock, with new

00:00:11.980 content for you every single Tuesday, 1.30pm Eastern Time. We do appreciate you joining us

00:00:17.240 here today. As a friendly reminder, if you can't listen to the entire program right this second,

00:00:22.340 please download it, listen to it on platforms like CastBox, iTunes, Google Play, Spotify,

00:00:26.060 you name it, it is out there. Together we can push back against the ever-moving liberal agenda

00:00:30.580 because I guarantee you the content you're about to hear today is not something you're

00:00:34.040 generally hearing in the mainstream media. And the content we're about to give you today

00:00:37.920 is on food prices. The price of food is out of control. We've all been to the grocery store,

00:00:43.920 we've all seen it with our own eyes, and it is almost self-inflicted. And to talk about this,

00:00:49.640 we're going to invite John Barlow, the Member of Parliament for Foothills. He's also the Shadow

00:00:54.040 Minister for Agriculture and Agri-Food, a good friend of the show. He's been on before. Welcome,

00:00:57.960 John. Thanks, Timmy, very much for having me. It's a pleasure.

00:01:00.560 All right. The price of food is out of control. Farmers are complaining about a whole bunch of

00:01:04.840 costs, the carbon tax, fertilizer, etc., etc. It's just one thing after another being hit on these

00:01:10.180 farmers that are just trying to provide food for our communities. Yeah, you know, it's honestly,

00:01:14.280 it just seems like it's one blow after another. Just when you think you've maybe overcome one

00:01:18.600 obstacle, another one hits them from the blind side. And it's when you see these skyrocketing

00:01:24.680 prices on their inputs like feed, fuel, and fertilizer, that is having an impact. They

00:01:29.100 can't pass that on. They can't take on those increased costs themselves. It's passed on to

00:01:33.480 the consumer. And you're seeing a big part of that at the grocery store shelves where, you know,

00:01:37.900 food prices have gone up anywhere between 7 and 15 percent.

00:01:41.140 So we're calling on fertilizer prices to have a bit of a reprieve. Basically, before the sanctions

00:01:46.400 on Russia, those deals that were done before the sanctions were imposed, to let those ships come

00:01:53.220 into port, unload, and not feel the full brunt of the sanctions Canada imposed on other goods

00:01:59.000 coming from Russia. Yeah, that's right. The Liberals' self-imposed tariff on Russian fertilizer

00:02:05.080 has exasperated what was already a cost crisis when it came to fertilizer. In many parts of the country,

00:02:11.060 due to supply chain issues and carbon taxes, we saw the price of fertilizer more than double,

00:02:17.620 up 200 percent in many areas. So then to put on a 35 percent tariff on that fertilizer coming from

00:02:23.560 Russia and Belarus, they're just making that even that much more unaffordable. It is going to

00:02:28.940 certainly impact this growing season, but more so next growing season. So what we're asking the

00:02:33.160 Liberals to do, we've been asking for many weeks and have yet to get a response, is simply exempt

00:02:37.840 that tariff from any fertilizer that was purchased from Russia before March 2nd. Stuff that was paid

00:02:43.120 for months, and in some cases almost a year ago, it's on route, it's in transit, so it's not hurting

00:02:49.800 Russia in any way. It's already been bought and paid for, but it will help Canadian farmers, at least 1.00

00:02:54.900 with the affordability issue, to be able to afford those inputs to ensure that they're going to have

00:02:59.540 the best yield possible at a time when we're going to need that, and we're going to see potentially a

00:03:04.500 global food crisis as a result of what's going on in Russia and Ukraine, but certainly a really

00:03:09.320 difficult drought last year. Yeah, absolutely. Farmers are one thing after another sometimes,

00:03:13.740 and just to build on what you were saying, the conflict in Ukraine, the destruction that's

00:03:20.920 happening on farmlands in that whole region is quite substantial, and I think people are noticing

00:03:28.320 high prices now, but there is a very real reality that prices are going to go a lot higher because

00:03:37.280 of what's going on in the world today. Yeah, absolutely. Ukraine is the breadbasket of that

00:03:42.280 part of the world for much of Europe, Asia, and Africa when it comes to barley, corn, wheat, sunflower oil,

00:03:50.200 which isn't as huge a commodity here, but very, very highly sought after in Africa and Asia.

00:03:56.280 So we're looking at maybe a loss of a quarter of the globe's wheat, barley, and corn crop. That is

00:04:03.060 substantial, especially when you look at the Food and Agriculture Organization predicted we've got

00:04:09.400 about 300 million people on the planet that have food security issues. They're expecting that to go

00:04:14.340 up by maybe 80 million people as a result of what's going on in Russia and Ukraine when you've lost

00:04:19.160 such a big part of our global food supply, and 80% of what we produce here in Canada is exported.

00:04:25.220 So when you have that void that has now been created as a result of what's going on with Russia

00:04:29.940 and Ukraine, producers here are going to be asked to fill that, and they're going to have that

00:04:34.340 responsibility, and they want to carry that burden. But certainly when you have a loss of a 25% of your

00:04:39.740 supply, that is going to drive up prices. So when we talk about global food security and, well,

00:04:45.380 insecurity, we often talk about this in faraway places, in countries we don't really can't even

00:04:50.260 pronounce or we don't know where they are. But we really need to understand that this is going to be

00:04:54.080 felt right here at home. Because what's going on in Russia and Ukraine is impacting us here with

00:04:59.520 higher food prices, and those prices are going to continue to rise.

00:05:02.800 A lot of people will talk about, well, as you mentioned, Canada has the ability to produce and

00:05:07.920 provide a lot of the food that the world needs. But at the end of the day, the more the government

00:05:15.440 puts on in terms of rules, regulation, taxes, red tape, the list goes on,

00:05:20.480 the less competitive our agriculture sector becomes. But not only that, the higher

00:05:25.600 it costs to produce that good. And that is something that I think gets overlooked sometimes,

00:05:31.200 is the fact that we are self-inflicting, as I said at the beginning, self-inflicting these wounds

00:05:35.840 that make our product almost very, well, it does make it uncompetitive in some markets,

00:05:41.440 but the ability to attract more younger farmers into the field, to kind of get a new generation

00:05:48.320 going, it sometimes hurts us when we start doing stuff like this.

00:05:52.320 Yeah, there's no question. And this is almost like the building of the perfect storm,

00:05:56.640 where bad liberal policy has made it very unattractive to get into Canadian agriculture.

00:06:01.920 When you talk about carbon taxes, supply chain issues, a labour crisis, all of these things are

00:06:08.160 having an impact. And when you're a farmer, you understand there's a lot of things that are

00:06:12.400 outside of your control. The weather, commodity prices, things like that. But you do look at the

00:06:17.280 government to give you some sort of predictability and sustainability on certain things. A competitive

00:06:24.640 tax and regulatory regime, a dependable infrastructure and transportation program,

00:06:29.680 the ability to export my products around the world. Well, I can tick all of those off and say the

00:06:34.160 Liberals are failing on all of those things. So when farmers are looking for some sort of

00:06:39.920 support from the federal government side, it's just not there. And then we are seeing with a bill

00:06:46.400 that we passed in Parliament last year, Bill C208, which was brought forward by our colleague Larry

00:06:50.880 Maguire, which changed the tax structure to ensure that there'd be easier in that succession planning to

00:06:56.880 pass that farm on to the next generation. Well, for the first time in our Canadian history,

00:07:01.440 a Liberal government is ignoring the will of Parliament and has not implemented that legislation

00:07:06.720 yet. And we're, you know, more than almost two years into that being passed. You know,

00:07:11.600 that's unacceptable. So everything that we're, you know, Canadian agriculture right now should be

00:07:16.880 booming as you see the opportunities that are out there. Commodity prices are high.

00:07:20.960 Opportunities in global markets are there. But the Liberal government is doing everything they can to

00:07:25.440 hold that back by having punitive taxes and punitive regulatory regime and legislation that is causing

00:07:32.480 more harm than good. And the carbon tax, it went up yet again in April. More cost on the farmer trying

00:07:38.640 to grow the or dry the grain and just do their jobs and provide food for us. It's just unbelievable how

00:07:47.840 we are making our domestic food supply more expensive and why it's so unnecessary that we're doing it.

00:07:54.560 Well, the carbon tax is a perfect example. There's a couple of things there. So the first year the

00:07:59.440 carbon tax came in, even though the Liberals promised it would never go over $50 a tonne,

00:08:02.960 well now we're well on our way to $170 a tonne. In the first year of the carbon tax, the average

00:08:07.360 Canadian farmer paid about $14,000 in carbon taxes. Punitive, you know, harmful, but you can probably get

00:08:12.800 around it. Last year it was $45,000 the second year. Well now they increased it again on April 1st when

00:08:18.000 we have a supply chain crisis and a global food insecurity crisis. They've upped it 25%. So now

00:08:23.360 your average farmer is going to be paying somewhere between $70,000 and $80,000. That is your average

00:08:27.680 farmer. I've got large producers in my riding that showed me bills that are tens of thousands of dollars

00:08:32.800 a month when they have large poultry operations or cattle operations where they're having to heap barns or dry

00:08:38.720 grain. As you said, we are taxing our farmers out of business. It's nonsensical. As we said, we are

00:08:45.600 asking them leading up to April 1st, like if any time you're going to put the carbon tax on hold and

00:08:50.400 not increase it, now is the time. But because their activists bent with no sense of reasoning of

00:08:58.240 ramifications of these decisions, they went ahead and increased it. And it's, our Canadian farmers are

00:09:04.000 feeling that hit because they can't, they can't absorb that tax. And as a result, again, they're

00:09:09.760 passing it on to consumers. And with everything else going on in the world, yet another reason why

00:09:14.320 we're seeing inflation and grocery prices go through the roof. Yeah, we're seeing price inflation

00:09:19.040 and currency inflation hitting at the exact same time. And it's, it's hurting those just struggling

00:09:24.720 to get by, especially those on the margins. So we have all the red tape, the regulations, taxes,

00:09:30.000 and all that. Jamie, the worst thing about the carbon tax, as the parliamentary budget officer

00:09:33.440 said in his report, it doesn't reduce emissions, it increases inflation. So everything that they

00:09:39.280 say this should be, and they said it's also, the Liberals have said it's revenue neutral. Well,

00:09:43.680 we know that's not true. The parliamentary budget officer said that. The Liberals' own emissions

00:09:48.640 program they put out proves it. They're only going to give farmers back about $1.70 for every

00:09:53.760 thousand dollars of eligible expenses. Well, that's a far cry from revenue neutral. So everything

00:09:59.200 the Liberals profess this carbon tax to do, reduce emissions, revenue neutral, is not true. And we

00:10:04.800 know it not to be true. And yet they plow ahead with it. Well, I think they had a prime example

00:10:08.320 in British Columbia, because the provincial government had a carbon tax long before the

00:10:12.400 federal one, and emissions rose every single year. It never actually did what it was supposed to do.

00:10:18.160 So it just becomes then a tax grab, a money grab, that governments could then spend on whatever they

00:10:23.760 feel the priority of the day is. So on top of all of that, we have groups, and I tweeted it out,

00:10:30.000 and we talked about this beforehand, talking about how we reduce the global meat supply by 75% in order

00:10:37.520 to meet climate change targets. This is, as I tweeted out my tweet, what do you think is going to happen

00:10:43.040 to the global price of meat if you cut 75% out of the market? And of course, this is just a study.

00:10:49.840 They're talking about it almost like testing the waters. But meat will only be then available for

00:10:54.640 the elite and the well-off of society, while the rest of us almost starve. It is absolutely

00:10:59.760 nonsensical when we have a fantastic agriculture community that is doing everything right. Good

00:11:05.280 stewards of the land. They're trying to be environmentally progressive as much as they

00:11:09.360 can, and they're doing a fantastic job, but get no credit for it. 100%. It's like the proposed truck

00:11:15.280 tax, right? Yes. So only elites will be able to eat beef and drive a truck. 0.99

00:11:19.120 So I'm not sure what that's going to do for rural Canadians. It's going to be pretty tough for us to

00:11:22.880 manage. But you're right. And the worst thing about that report is that it is not based on fact.

00:11:30.720 Our native grasslands, especially in Western Canada, are the most endangered biodiversity

00:11:35.600 in the world, more so than the Amazon rainforest, more so than the coral reef in the Amazon. And if you

00:11:40.960 do not have those animals grazing that grassland, it will be destroyed. It is protecting that biodiversity,

00:11:48.320 that ecosystem, you know, hundreds of thousands of species at risk. It's very important to our

00:11:53.280 wetlands to ensure that those grasslands are healthy and protected. If you don't have the animals on there

00:11:58.720 maintaining that grassland, it will be lost to weeds and infestation, or it'll be cultivated into,

00:12:05.200 you know, crops, or developed as residential development. And then you lose it forever.

00:12:10.960 And once it's gone, it's gone. It's irreplaceable. So that's the other one. But the other thing is,

00:12:16.160 the Liberals have had a food additive that reduces methane from cattle by 80%. It's been approved by the

00:12:23.360 United States. It's been approved by the European Union. It's been five years, and CFIA hasn't approved

00:12:28.720 it in Canada to be used. So there's a, there's a solution right there for you, that we don't have to worry

00:12:33.440 about impacting cattle prices or endangering, you know, a very delicate ecosystem in Canada.

00:12:40.480 Just to prove the 3NOP food additive for cattle feed, and you've reduced methane by 80%. But again,

00:12:47.360 they can't get it their own way in making things more complicated than it needs to be.

00:12:50.720 Well, it's almost as if they try to make your life, if you're, if you're not making someone's life miserable,

00:12:55.520 you're not being a good liberal. That's right. Is that not what it seems like?

00:12:58.160 Yeah, miserable and unaffordable. That seems to be the strategy.

00:13:01.200 But then they just want you to rest on, on the fact that government will then provide for you

00:13:06.080 at some point. But they forget the government needs to get the money from somewhere.

00:13:09.840 Right. You know, they can only tax borrow or print so much before there are impacts.

00:13:14.160 They want to wrap you in a very expensive government safety blanket. And unfortunately,

00:13:20.720 you know, we need, as you know, your podcast does a great job of doing is inform

00:13:24.960 Canadians on that there are consequences to these types of decisions. And it may sound

00:13:29.520 good when they make that media announcement. But when you dig down deep into the actual

00:13:35.040 nitty gritty, it shows you that it's, it's devastating.

00:13:37.920 Well, we talked about this before, but you're from Alberta. So you're very familiar with this,

00:13:42.400 but also the fact that fuel prices are rising, you know, diesel, I know there's tax

00:13:48.160 benefits for on farm and off farm, but diesel prices are going out of control right now.

00:13:53.360 And we have the ability in this country where we have some of the world's largest deposits here,

00:13:57.680 but we have restricted over the last decade or so, the industry's ability to get those

00:14:03.440 products to market outside the United States. And this is again, another self-inflicted wound where

00:14:09.840 the world is just clamoring for another supply other than Russia. Canada has it. We just can't get

00:14:16.320 it anywhere. It's absolutely incredible.

00:14:18.400 Well, that's another one of those, those issues where, you know, farmers are feeling that,

00:14:22.320 especially people in rural Canada that, you know, you don't have a choice. You know,

00:14:26.320 I need diesel to, to run my operation. And it's not just farmers, but any small business owner,

00:14:30.880 whether you're a welder or a carpenter, you know, you've, you've got your truck. And again,

00:14:34.080 that, that truck tax comes in there. But my, my farmers and my ranchers, as, as you would know,

00:14:39.120 Jamie, as well, you know, they, they can't put their cattle on the subway to get it to market.

00:14:43.520 You know, I, I don't have public transit in my riding. It's 25,000 square kilometers. It doesn't

00:14:47.680 exist. Um, my, my grain growers can't haul their grain to the terminal in a Tesla. Like,

00:14:53.760 those things just physically don't exist. They rely on those diesel prices. And again,

00:14:58.880 that's just passed on, on to the end consumer. And what makes it frustrating, as you mentioned,

00:15:03.760 is now we have all these pundits around the world, especially here in Canada, the mainstream media

00:15:07.840 saying, oh, you know, why, why have we not looked at energy as, as a geopolitical tool and,

00:15:13.680 and been sure that the, the worst dictators in the world aren't holding other countries by

00:15:17.760 captive. And I'm like, are you insane? What do you think we've been talking about for a decade? 0.99

00:15:23.360 Ever since I've been here, that's all we talked about.

00:15:25.200 That's all we talked about. And you're right. Agriculture and energy are, are two critical

00:15:30.160 things that Canada has that we should be flexing our muscles with and using as geopolitical tools

00:15:35.600 and influencers around the world. But it's the two things that the liberals have the most disdain

00:15:39.200 for and are doing everything they possibly can to shut us down by, by listening to activists and,

00:15:44.880 and listening to, um, those lobbyists that don't have the best, uh, the best of what Canada can offer

00:15:52.320 at heart. And, uh, it is very frustrating when you, you know, you and I, and, and certainly our

00:15:57.280 conservative colleagues and Canadians across the country understand the potential that we have

00:16:01.600 and the role we can play. Um, but we are being held back by a government who doesn't feel that

00:16:06.480 we should have that role, uh, around the world. And that's, that's really unfortunate.

00:16:10.960 We just have to look to free market principles. If you're talking about energy, agriculture,

00:16:14.720 anything like that. Uh, we only have a few minutes left. We do have to wrap up. I just want to quickly,

00:16:19.440 uh, just end on a bit of an energy tone here. Uh, Keystone XL, of course, Joe Biden was sworn as

00:16:25.200 prime minister. First thing he did was cancel that, not a peep from the prime minister on this.

00:16:29.600 Then when the price of fuel starts to skyrocket, who does Joe Biden turn to for help? OPEC.

00:16:36.480 And they shot him down. And then he just said, well, now we have to start drilling in, in,

00:16:40.960 in, uh, the United States again, even though there's a moratorium on, on drilling on federal

00:16:45.120 lands. It's just unbelievable that Canada is just left off these, these conversations.

00:16:50.240 Yeah. The, the hypocrisy of, of these left leading provincial and federal governments is, 0.66

00:16:55.040 it's frustrating. The other example I would have is, is Premier Horgan in BC, uh,

00:16:59.200 who's doing everything he possibly can to shut down Trans Mountain, made sure that Northern

00:17:02.480 Gateway didn't go ahead. Well, when gas prices hit, uh, big highs this fall, he gave every BC

00:17:07.680 resident a subsidy to cover their gas. It's like, well, isn't this exactly what you wanted to make

00:17:12.320 gas unaffordable that BC people of British Columbia can't drive their vehicles. So it's amazing how your

00:17:17.440 politics change once things start, you know, the, the poop hits the fan, so to speak. So the hypocrisy of 0.98

00:17:23.200 these people and, and the first, you know, again, Canadian energy is developed under the most,

00:17:28.400 the highest environmental and human rights standards in the world. And we are shutting

00:17:32.160 down our industry. That means we're relying on Putin. We're relying on Venezuela. We're relying on Saudi 1.00

00:17:36.400 Arabia. Instead of using conflict-free, ethically developed oil and gas right here from Canada, 0.84

00:17:42.560 it does not make any sense. And I hope Canadians start to realize just how important energy and

00:17:47.440 agriculture security is here, but also around the world. And it's unfortunate it takes a conflict in

00:17:51.840 another part of the world to start, uh, getting people to, to realize that the government has

00:17:56.640 screwed up on two important fronts here really badly. Very much so. We're pretty much out of time.

00:18:01.440 As you know, you always get the last word. So I'll give you some time to, to give your final thoughts

00:18:06.000 and then we'll wrap up. Yeah. Thanks again for having me, Jamie. And I really, uh, my message here

00:18:10.880 today is, is Canadians need to, to understand how important these two industries are to our country,

00:18:16.240 not only our economy, but, but certainly, uh, the, the rural communities across the country. But now,

00:18:21.600 I'm hoping Canadians see just how critical they are to our position around the world that Canada 1.00

00:18:27.200 isn't the problem. Canada offers a solution when it comes to energy and agriculture.

00:18:31.520 John Barlow, member of parliament for Foothills, also the shadow minister for agriculture and agri-food.

00:18:36.000 We do appreciate him coming by today and sharing his thoughts. And of course, if you like those

00:18:40.080 thoughts, I know I did, please like, comment, subscribe, share this program. Together, we can push back

00:18:45.040 against that ever moving liberal agenda. As I mentioned earlier, if you didn't get a chance to watch or listen

00:18:50.160 to the entire program, please download it on platforms like CastBox, iTunes, Google Play,

00:18:54.800 Spotify, tell your friends about it. This is content you're probably not getting in the mainstream

00:18:59.120 media. New content every single Tuesday, 1.30pm Eastern time. We do appreciate you joining us.

00:19:04.080 And remember, low taxes, less governments, more freedom. That's the Blueprint.

The Blueprint: Canada's Conservative Podcast - May 03, 2022

How Trudeau’s Budget will further burden Canadian families

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