The Blueprint: Canada's Conservative Podcast - Liberal government doubles down against Canada’s farmers.

00:00:00.000 hello and welcome once again to the blueprints this is canada's conservative podcast i'm your

00:00:11.820 host jamie schmale member of parliament for halliburton fourth likes brock with new content

00:00:15.680 for you every single tuesday 1 30 p.m eastern time we ask that you like comment subscribe

00:00:21.460 share this program share this program help us push back against the ever-moving liberal agenda

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00:00:36.440 today's topic is something that's kind of been on my mind since we first talked about it a few weeks

00:00:41.740 ago with our agriculture and agri-food critic john barlow the member of parliament for foothills in

00:00:46.620 alberta and it is this idea that the liberals are floating that they want to reduce fertilizer use

00:00:53.680 in canada by 30 percent which would absolutely devastate our agriculture industry so to talk

00:01:00.160 a bit more about this because this is extremely important and again it's probably a message you're

00:01:06.260 not hearing about in the mainstream media at this exact moment so i'm bringing on a good friend of

00:01:10.840 the show warren steinley member of parliament for regina louvan in the beautiful province of

00:01:15.460 saskatchewan thanks for coming on board absolutely jamie happy to be here and happy to talk about an

00:01:20.740 issue that's going to be very important now and into the future because it's going to really

00:01:24.600 revolve around food security for canadians and for the world so thank you very much for having me on

00:01:29.360 well it looks like the liberals conversation on this is changing a bit so at first they were talking

00:01:36.280 about setting up consultations with farmers and interest groups all across the country to talk

00:01:41.360 about how they can reduce the fertilizer use in canada by 30 percent which would again absolutely

00:01:47.700 devastate food production in this country but again now they're getting a bit of pushback it seems now

00:01:52.080 they're saying well maybe it was voluntary after all i don't know about you warren in your area i know in

00:01:58.880 my area farmers like everybody else they don't use too much of their product because if they do they're

00:02:07.680 going to lose money they use exactly what is needed at the exact time and moment exactly jamie and

00:02:14.080 you're bang on we were actually fortunate enough to have john barlow out in regina saskatchewan here

00:02:19.420 a couple weeks ago and myself andrew sheeran him had a meeting with around 40 agriculture stakeholders

00:02:25.080 that represented different groups across saskatchewan and that's what they said the message

00:02:29.980 was farmers don't want to use more inputs than they can so it affects their bottom line and also

00:02:35.700 they're great stewards of the land so they're making sure the technology is so good right now

00:02:40.260 i had an opportunity to go to a yara incubator test site during ag and motion up by saskatoon and they

00:02:47.040 have such technology now where they've mapped all the fields they have a machine that you can put to

00:02:53.660 13 leaves 30 leaves on it tells you the exact amount of fertilizer they should use at the exact time to the

00:03:01.160 decimal spot so i think people in ottawa that are making these policies up as they go don't realize the

00:03:06.820 technology is being used in agriculture in western canada and saskatchewan at this moment and how

00:03:13.040 well they're doing in ensuring that they use as least amount of fertilizer as possible for the fields

00:03:18.060 that they're producing that's actually a very good point warren and i'm glad you brought that up

00:03:22.500 technology especially in agriculture and the food industry is moving so fast it most farmers are always

00:03:29.800 using the best technology the best information they can have as quickly as they can get it this is

00:03:35.540 this is a sector that that thrives on innovation and i think sometimes it's overlooked yes in so many

00:03:41.940 of these agribusinesses farmers have these big farms they have agrologists and professionals that

00:03:47.060 come out and help them decide what they should produce in what year what field they need to put

00:03:52.500 a different crop in so these professional agrologists are making sure that these farm the farmers are being

00:03:57.820 great stewards of the land that which they have always been and one thing that they don't realize is

00:04:02.440 if you reduce the amount of fertilizer yields will go down that is an absolute and every producer will

00:04:08.120 tell you that if they want to reduce the use of fertilizer that means it's going to affect every

00:04:12.660 canadian this is not an urban versus rural issue not an east versus west issue if you eat food in

00:04:18.380 canada this bad policy by this liberal government is going to affect you and food prices are going to

00:04:23.840 continue to rise and it's going to hurt the most vulnerable once again it's just bad public policy put

00:04:28.480 forth by a government and an agriculture minister that doesn't understand agriculture in western

00:04:33.480 canada well from the article from the cbc posted august 5th it's got a picture of you and john

00:04:40.000 barlow and andrew sheer on the on the article so as you just mentioned farm industry groups and it's

00:04:46.360 right here in this article cbc farm industry groups say there's no simple or viable way to reduce

00:04:52.500 nitrous oxide emissions without reducing the use of fertilizers which will again lower crop yields

00:05:01.200 and of course we export a lot we feed a good chunk of the world with our export we could probably be

00:05:07.460 doing more but if the government is going to go through with this which now they're saying it's

00:05:12.100 voluntary two seconds ago it was coming on uh you know they're thinking about it for 2030 um we could be

00:05:18.660 doing a lot more in helping uh reduce poverty we're reducing uh food insecurity in in places

00:05:26.420 around the world that are struggling with that well that's exactly right jamie and we saw the same thing

00:05:31.860 that was done to our energy sector right now we could be doing more to help out countries like germany

00:05:37.140 and make sure they don't need russian gas and they're doing the same thing in agriculture that

00:05:41.120 they're trying to lower what we can do in canada which canadian agriculture is produced 70 more

00:05:46.720 environmentally friendly than most other countries around the world so what we could be doing now

00:05:51.460 is ensuring that people are getting sustainably made food and food products shipping them to

00:05:56.200 countries that need them and helping feed the world's hungry people so i think that's something

00:06:00.460 that needs to be put in perspective is we need to have a government roadblocks in front of our

00:06:05.360 industries and start helping them so that we can be a leader in the world when it comes to food security

00:06:10.120 and energy security because we see bad policy after bad policy affect some of our most

00:06:16.280 productive sectors and that's something that needs to stop and look what's happening happening in the

00:06:20.500 netherlands they the government is purposely trying to shut down 30 000 farms in in the netherlands and

00:06:28.040 this is this is a country that produces a way above their weight in terms of agriculture outputs

00:06:35.360 it is staggering to me that the government purposely would want to shut down their food production

00:06:43.320 would would shut down the ability for trade economic opportunity jobs innovation wealth technology

00:06:50.360 all to meet these arbitrary goals meanwhile where will those countries that are receiving that food

00:06:57.220 replace that with what other country is able to ramp up their exports that fast in order to to meet

00:07:04.640 the the the products that's being taken off the market by the government of the netherlands and and we

00:07:11.200 don't want to see the same thing happen here well the answer to help to help feed the world is canada

00:07:16.920 could ramp up their production of food products but unfortunately this government is going down a

00:07:22.060 similar path another thing being done in the netherlands is they're taking arable land out of farm

00:07:28.160 production and that's an actual goal of the government when food security is something that's been talked

00:07:33.180 about around the world why on earth would any government look at taking arable land out of food

00:07:38.220 production when it's something that is being seen as more important each and every year from people

00:07:43.660 around the world and the fear is in canada right now is if you aren't going to meet some of these

00:07:49.520 subjective emission targets then you may not be able to take part in some of the brm programs

00:07:55.280 business risk management programs that the governments are offering and that's a fear we heard loud and clear

00:08:00.680 from some of the stakeholders in regina that we met with that day is if this is going to be

00:08:05.320 voluntary does that mean that if we don't make and have a plan then we can't take part in some of the

00:08:11.640 business risk management programs that are offered to the government and that's a real concern out here

00:08:15.880 in western canada and it's something that needs to be taken seriously another thing that people don't

00:08:20.320 realize is there's been some studies done by industry groups and these fertilizer reduction targets set

00:08:27.180 by this government could take out 48 billion dollars worth of profit in the agriculture sector in our

00:08:33.860 country and that's 40 billion with a b and that's something that people are scared about and when

00:08:39.360 the economy is looking like it's heading in a downturn taking that much money out of our economy at a time

00:08:45.540 where we need to be growing our economy so people can be making paychecks is something that is very

00:08:50.460 worrisome to the agriculture stakeholders we spoke to i'm glad you brought this up too because this is

00:08:56.600 the issue i have sometimes with with government grants especially with this liberal government and how they

00:09:02.020 have their agenda it's not necessarily the best widget maker that gets the grant to to innovate

00:09:09.440 and and come up with the new great thing it's usually the group that's connected to government

00:09:14.480 or has you know the right lobbyists the right lawyers or they have predetermined innovation right

00:09:20.820 the government will determine well we want the widget to look like this well if we got the grant we're

00:09:25.480 going to have to make the widget like this is it the best way to make it i don't know is it is it more

00:09:29.420 cost efficient who knows but it is a barrier competition it hurts the free market it hurts

00:09:35.220 innovation it hurts technology you still probably get some innovation i think every country whether

00:09:40.700 they're communist or socialist does have innovation but you don't have the rapid innovation you have

00:09:45.560 if you reduce barriers lower taxes allow people to develop what the market wants to see and and in

00:09:52.360 our agriculture sector they are using the best technology they want to continue to do that

00:09:56.380 reduce their emissions at the same time and they're already doing it in so many other cases there are

00:10:00.680 examples all over this country of farmers trying to reduce their their their footprint and i think

00:10:08.060 we're doing a heck of a job but they get absolutely no credit from this government yeah that's another

00:10:12.980 thing and jamie is any of the innovations that happened before 2018 which is once again another random

00:10:20.980 date that they picked won't count towards emission reduction targets so any innovation has to happen

00:10:26.600 after 2018 which anyone that's been involved in the farm sector knows how far we've come in the last 15

00:10:33.840 years on on innovation and technology and it was just another subjective date picked by this government

00:10:40.320 that said no any innovation that happens and you're going to get credit for your emission reductions

00:10:45.220 has to happen after 2018 which is something that is very troublesome for the farm industry right now

00:10:52.340 and we talked about that at that stakeholder meeting also and it was another another subjective date that

00:10:57.140 the government picked for some reason but just to get back to talking about innovation and the government

00:11:02.080 sometimes just needs to get out of the way when i was on the agriculture committee i spoke with one of the

00:11:06.560 senior bureaucrats in ottawa he talked about how the government needs to foster innovation in the

00:11:12.340 agriculture sector so i asked him i said what government program uh bring forward zero tillage

00:11:18.820 none it was a private sector that came up with innovation and technology and and drills so he could

00:11:24.260 do zero till what innovation was it that brought forward crop rotation none it was people realizing that

00:11:30.240 the fields needed time to rest in different crops put in different nutrients rotational grazing for

00:11:35.360 producers another thing there wasn't like forest government program that made people rotational graze their

00:11:40.320 cattle they used to realize it was better for the land and they came to these new innovative ideas on their

00:11:45.740 own so i just said it doesn't have to be a government program to initiate innovation in the agriculture sector

00:11:51.420 they're doing fine on their own sometimes the government just should get it all the way and leave our

00:11:55.420 agriculture producers alone that's you couldn't have said it better like the government picks winners and

00:12:00.860 losers it doesn't innovate it produces regulations and rules that oftentimes stifle or slow down

00:12:07.100 innovation in certain sectors and they create barriers to competition government is not an innovator 0.90

00:12:12.460 the private sector is the innovator the free market will provide and when we talk about energy i think

00:12:18.220 as conservatives we're talking about a plus b the the left always talks about b minus a right they they

00:12:24.740 they want to get rid of our our fossil fuel industry and only rely on wind turbines and solar panels well

00:12:30.720 that's not going to produce the energy we need nor is it going to produce the energy that the world needs to get

00:12:36.220 off russian oil for example or oil from venezuela it doesn't matter there are bad actors we need to

00:12:42.080 displace those bad actors we do that by producing abundance abundance equals peace shortage equals strife

00:12:49.020 that's very well said jamie and i think that's something that this government doesn't understand

00:12:55.560 and the reason why is there they're all a touch they're all a touch with the actual builders and

00:13:00.580 producers of what we do well they they have a certain group of people that they listen to and

00:13:05.280 they say and and speak their uh wokeism back to them and they they hear from them exactly what they

00:13:11.760 want to hear but when they come out to saskatchewan i think they're surprised and don't understand why

00:13:16.520 we have some big issues with the policy direction this government's going especially in the agro

00:13:20.540 don't understand that there are good great agro businesses that are innovating each and every day to

00:13:26.940 make sure that they're doing better to sustain their environment and i think that's something

00:13:31.000 that this government needs to really take a step back and start listening to other people than what

00:13:35.740 they what they want to hear they get they just hear a parrot speaking back to them and this government

00:13:40.800 really needs to get out of the ottawa bubble and talk to some real people but i don't think that's

00:13:45.680 what they want to do jamie i think they just want to stay in the ottawa bubble and do the ottawa's

00:13:49.920 knows best approach you can see it with some of the legislation they did with the the green

00:13:54.020 framework they didn't talk to the people and we we talked earlier about the consultation process

00:13:59.380 well this government put this policy in place before they consulted anyone they did it backwards

00:14:05.420 as always they put a policy in place and then they went out and said hey what do you guys think about

00:14:09.940 this well if the policy is already in place and you've made your decision everyone knows you're just

00:14:14.640 doing fake consultation right now to try and make yourselves feel better and try and make your

00:14:18.160 friends in the media be able to say oh no they did talk to to producers well they did a six

00:14:24.020 and they made the policy before they even talked to the people that was going to affect

00:14:27.560 and we also hear lots over and over again that the the left cares about the poor and i think every

00:14:35.480 party cares about the poor we want to ensure that people are able to lift themselves out of poverty

00:14:39.660 and find opportunity and and and live the canadian dream if this goes forward who do you think

00:14:48.200 this policy is going to hurt more it's going to be those on the lower end of the income scale if

00:14:54.480 you skyrocket prices of groceries are already through the roof if you make that go higher

00:14:59.360 what do you think is going to happen energy is already through the roof the tank of gas

00:15:03.940 is incredible right now and now you're going to say well in in eight more years we're thinking about

00:15:09.740 reducing the farmers in canada their ability to to use fertilizer and have them reduce which mean

00:15:15.800 less crops which will mean less food output what do you think is going to happen to the existing food

00:15:22.280 supply it's going to go out of control hurting those that probably well definitely uh need the

00:15:29.820 protection the most which is the availability of food in abundance yeah it's going to hurt the most

00:15:35.260 vulnerable jamie 100 healthier foods are going to be cost more money and the people that live in

00:15:41.400 uh rosedale where minister freedom live freedom won't find a difference if they have to pay an

00:15:45.800 extra four dollars for a loaf of bread but the single mother that is trying to support two kids 1.00

00:15:50.620 on a lower paying job that's who's going to affect they're going to be able to have most vulnerable

00:15:55.320 people are not going to be able to afford the food they need to have a healthy lifestyle it's the

00:15:59.680 same as the carbon tax when heating bills go up it doesn't affect people that drive hundred thousand

00:16:04.680 cars it affects people that take the bus to work and i think that's something that this government

00:16:08.920 is completely ill touch with the average hard-working canadian and how hard it is under this government

00:16:14.420 to get the job done and make ends meet i think that's something very important is i've talked to

00:16:20.500 many people in saskatchewan over the summer jamie and not one person said they're in a better situation

00:16:25.260 financially than they were five years ago there's very few canadians that are better off after this

00:16:29.800 government's been in power for seven years and the policies that they're bringing forward are just

00:16:34.180 making it harder and harder for families to make ends meet and something that needs to be

00:16:38.680 stopped and they need to listen to what canadians are going through and actually have some

00:16:43.760 empathy for canadians and right now they're just stubbornly going down this path of

00:16:47.960 ideology towards climate extremism and i think we need to really take a step back and see how

00:16:55.600 this is affecting the day-to-day lives of canadians well one way to to help us get off fossil fuels and

00:17:03.640 reduce our our domain our need for them is technology innovation how do you do that use the free market

00:17:09.920 reduce taxes lower the government implications into your life and allow people to do what they

00:17:16.300 do best which is innovate warren i have so many more questions for you but unfortunately we are

00:17:20.340 running out of time as you know the the guests always get the last word so with that i open the

00:17:25.220 floor to you yeah i just want to repeat this isn't an issue when it comes to fertilizer reduction of

00:17:30.360 urban versus rural this is an issue that's going to affect each and every canadian as goes to the

00:17:36.980 grocery store to buy food so what we need to do is get out there and tell our story tell our very

00:17:41.800 good story about how we are producing food that is environmentally friendly and we can feed the world

00:17:47.860 and we need to make sure that our friends in urban canada know that western canadians are doing a

00:17:51.640 great job environmentally we're great stewards of the land and we just want to make sure that we can

00:17:56.180 get the job done and have government get out of our way i love it warren steinley member of parliament

00:18:01.860 regina lou van we do appreciate his time a good friend of the show appreciate you coming on again

00:18:06.320 if you like what you've heard you like what you watch please comment subscribe share this program i

00:18:13.260 guarantee you this is something the mainstream media isn't giving the attention it should and of

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00:18:26.940 back against this ever-moving liberal agenda to ensure that this is justin trudeau's last term as

00:18:31.540 prime minister here in canada so new content for you every single tuesday 1 30 p.m eastern time

00:18:37.500 we do appreciate your time doing this until then remember low taxes less government more freedom

00:18:42.900 that's the blueprint

00:18:43.700 you

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The Blueprint: Canada's Conservative Podcast - August 16, 2022

Liberal government doubles down against Canada’s farmers.

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