Trudeau is Leaving Canadian Farmers Behind
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Summary
In this episode, we talk about the importance of seasonal agriculture workers and the work they do to keep our food on the table. Leanne Rood, MP for Lanton-Kent-Middlesex and Shadow Minister for Agriculture and Agri-Food, joins us to discuss the need for seasonal agricultural workers.
Transcript
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Hello and welcome once again to The Blueprint. It is Canada's Conservative Podcast. I'm your
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host, Jamie Schmail, Member of Parliament for Halliburton Court, the likes Brock. Thank
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you very much for joining us today. As I said, every single week, new content every Tuesday,
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1.30pm Eastern Time. We thank you. You are the hardcore, you're sticking with us and
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we will provide you that content, allowing you another side of the story, something you
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might not hear from the mainstream media. We have a great show for you lined up today.
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I know I say that every week. This week is even truer than ever before because we have
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a topic that I think hits almost every riding in Canada in some way. We're going to talk
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agriculture momentarily, but we need you to get this message out. Help us push back against
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the ever-moving Liberal Agenda by liking it, commenting, subscribing, sharing this program.
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If you can't listen to it all in its content today, you can download it on platforms like
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CastBox, iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, you name it. It is out there. We do appreciate
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that. Without further delay, we do have the guest, Leanne Rood. She's the Member of Parliament
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for Lanton, Kent, Middlesex in southwestern Ontario. She's also the Shadow Minister for
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Agriculture and Agri-Food. We thank her very much for joining us today.
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Well, this is a big topic. Like I said, I think no matter where you live, urban, rural, agriculture
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affects every single Canadian. And I must say there were pretty much seamless efforts to ensure that
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our food was flowing, our supply chains were strong, and our grocery stores, even though we're in the
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middle of a pandemic, remained strong with food on their shelves.
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Absolutely. And we really do have Canadian farmers to thank for that. They're very hardworking and they
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worked with labour shortages this spring. They worked against all odds. We had some inclement weather
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in some areas of the country and they really are true heroes for all Canadians.
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Now, there were some issues at the beginning because growing season is very short in a lot of
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cases. And when farmers rely on seasonal agriculture workers to help out on their farm and off air,
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you and I were just talking, about 60,000 of them come into Canada every single year to help ensure
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that our fruits and vegetables and other items are getting out of the ground and into the next
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chain of events, so to speak. So why don't you talk a bit about that and the importance of the
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seasonal agriculture workers to our industry as a whole?
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No, you're so right. What most Canadians don't realize is that we rely on a lot of folks who come
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up from the Caribbean, from Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, from many countries to help produce food
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in Canada. It's mostly in the fruit and vegetable industry and we do have upwards of 60,000 or so
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people who come to help ensure that our farmers here have the labour that they need to be able to
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plant their crops, to harvest their crops, package goods that go into grocery stores right across the
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country. So they are an integral part of the food supply system in Canada. And a lot of times we don't hear
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the positive aspects of what these folks bring to the table, but these are folks who want to come to
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Canada. They want to work. They want to help Canadians. And then they actually bring the money that they make
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home to their home countries. And the good news story is that Canadians help. It's part of, if we think about
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it as an international aid program, Canadians are helping folks come in, help us with our food production
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here in Canada. Those folks bring the money home. They help supply needs to all of their extended family
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members. I've heard of folks building schools in their home communities. So there's a lot of good
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news stories that come out of the food production that we see here in Canada and the workers that come
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to help us. Now, farmers in general, I think they are world leaders, especially in Canada, in embracing new
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technology and new ways of doing things. So it helps reduce their footprint, so to speak, within the
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environment. And every time I speak to a farmer or I speak to people in advocacy groups, they're always
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talking about the use of technology, the use of innovation to make them even better and more
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efficient. No, you're absolutely right. When we look at packaging produce, for instance, that's what I grew up
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in. I grew up in the produce world. So we have robotics now in our packaging systems. There's fully
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automated packing lines with grading machines that are fully computerized and automated. There's so much
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technology built into agriculture now that it does take out some of the need for the folks that we can't
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find when we have a labour shortage. But it also helps production go faster and make sure that we can
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continue to be consistent with all the food security and health and safety guidelines that
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most packing houses have to go through. So we have technology from GPSs and combines and planters that
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help precisely navigate a tractor, for instance, in the field right down to a GPS point. So if you're a
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farmer who's planting many varieties of a crop in a field, you know exactly where it is. There's auto
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steering components on a lot of the equipment that farmers use. There's machinery that needs welders
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and we need millwrights to work and keep all the equipment up. Mechanics, there's farm trucks, there's
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lots of equipment that needs to be serviced. So when people think farming and agriculture, it's not what
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you used to think. It's actually very high tech now and we require a lot of skilled labour to be working
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in agriculture. Yeah, I think that's kind of a topic that gets overlooked in some cases. When you are a
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farmer today, it's not you plant the seed and you walk away. There are so many different facets to that
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operation. You're a mechanic, you're almost a trader in some aspects. You're an engineer, you're an
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environmentalist, you're a conservationist, and the list just keeps going on. So it isn't just one
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thing a farmer does. It's a whole series of events within the trade that make it a very noble
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profession. And something I think the industry in general, along with other industries like skilled
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trades and that sort of thing, getting the younger generation into that line of work is something I
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think we have to work at as a federal government, provincially, territorially, even municipally,
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because I think we're coming to a time when the number of farmers very soon are going to be
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significantly reduced. So we need that younger group to come in and fill that gap.
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No, you're absolutely right. And when we look at, and I keep going back to fruit and vegetable
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production, but that's our staple. That's our perishable goods here in Canada. It's very labour
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intensive. There's a lot of jobs that just can't be done with machinery. And it does require hand labour,
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it requires skilled labour to be able to run the different machines. And, and we need to make sure
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that kids growing up know, I personally have a passion for educating people where their food comes
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from. So I think it's important that we start to teach kids at a young age that there are very noble
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jobs in an agriculture industry. And we need to encourage young people to get into the profession
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of food production, or we're going to see it decline here in Canada. And we're just going to become
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completely reliant on, on fruits and vegetables and food from around the world, instead of right here
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in our own backyard, where we have the best soils and the best climates for a lot of the production that
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we do here in Canada. Agriculture, like I think any other industry, I don't care what it is, at the end
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of the day, you need to be able to make money in order to make it work, you need to be able to take
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home a paycheck, however that comes about, and feed your family and maybe hopefully have enough over to
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have the discretionary spending to go on a vacation or, or do some things that make life just so much more
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enjoyable. What I think we're dealing with on the federal government, in a lot of cases, is a
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government that imposes rule, regulation, red tape upon the agriculture industry, to the point where
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some are getting squeezed out. And when people talk about, they don't want the big farming operations
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in their backyard. Well, this, I think, is a result of endless government policy. But not only that,
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we heard about the carbon tax being increased, right across the board. So if you're a suburban
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individual, you're driving, you have to drive into the city or another area, you're going to see more
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money put into the price of a liter of fuel. This impacts the farmers as well, because they have to dry
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their crops, they have to do a whole bunch of things. So right now, the carbon tax is about $30 a ton. Now, in
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about 10 years, 2030, the Liberals are increasing that to $170 a ton. What does that mean for the average
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farmer that has to eat that, or try to pass it along, in many cases, they can't, to the consumer, which then
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would pay higher prices for groceries, which are already extremely high? I know there was a lot there. Try to
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No, you're absolutely right. And I've been fighting very hard against the carbon tax for
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on-farm fuel use of propane and natural gas for farmers, because there is no cleaner option or no
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other option, period, for drying grain, for instance. I have had some of the farmers in my own riding show
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me bills of $8,000 of a carbon tax for one month of drying their grain or their corn. And when you have
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a really wet year, you have to dry it to a certain moisture content in order for it to be stable
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enough to keep over the winter or to be able to ship it down to an ethanol plant, for instance,
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to be used. And I've had, we've seen this week, actually, a farmer, I think in Saskatchewan, where
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his carbon tax bill for irrigating one month was $18,000. So if we see the carbon tax increase by what
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the Liberals have said they're going to, it's going to squeeze farmers out of business. And
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like you mentioned, in a lot of cases, there is no one to pass those costs onto. The farmer right
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now is eating those costs into their, out of their own cash flows, and they have no way to recover
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that. So inevitably, the price of groceries is going to go up. And I think we saw a report come out last
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week that said that the price of groceries is going to go up about $700 per household next year,
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which is one of the highest rate hikes for groceries that they've seen in decades. And part of that,
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if you can imagine, if this carbon tax goes up and farmers have to keep paying this to produce food
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here in Canada, it's just going to push our grocery bills even higher. And right now we're seeing big
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grocery giants who are kind of taking a bit of, taking more out of farmers right now. We have Loblaws,
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we have Metro, and we have Walmart who have said this summer that they wanted to increase their fees
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for suppliers. So food processors and farmers would be included for the privilege of selling to their
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stores. So these farmers already have to pay fees to sell to the stores, but they want to increase their
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fees by as much as 6% so that they can pay for renovations to their grocery stores or upgrade their
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e-commerce or upgrade their computer systems. And this isn't fair to the farmers and food processors.
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They have nowhere to pass those fees onto, yet these companies are making record windfall profits.
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There are 346 million or so Loblaws made in the third quarter, which is out of this world. That's
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one quarter. And so inevitably, if we don't come up with better policies that are good for farmers,
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and if we, you know, for instance, getting rid of the carbon tax, we're going to see grocery bills
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skyrocket. And that's going to touch every single household in Canada. So I've been pushing at the
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federal level, and we've actually seen some traction now. And I've been talking with independent
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grocers, we need a grocery code of conduct in this country, so that these big grocery giants all have
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to play by the same rules. And all of the suppliers who supply goods to these groceries, stores will be
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able to play by those rules as well, so that we don't see the smaller independent stores being pushed out
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a business because they can't get supplies or food into their grocery stores. Because the big grocery
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giants that have all these fees, for instance, they would charge a penalty if they if a company
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doesn't ship what they're supposed to, they get charged a penalty. So of course, it's going to go to
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the grocery giants and not to the independent stores, which are the backbone of a lot of our rural
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communities. We just have independent stores in the small towns.
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On top of what is going on at every level of government imposing on agriculture, and yes,
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there needs to be rules and regulations governing any industry, agriculture included, I think it's
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the over the top rules and regulations that that drive a lot of farmers out of the business and the
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operation. But you touched on a good good point there that that nobody goes to work, I think, to break
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their back every single day to pay more in taxes. And, and if we actually want to ensure that groceries,
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the price of your food is at a reasonable level, we have to stop imposing one tax after another and
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everything that goes along that chain that increases incrementally the price of the final product,
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because what's happening and what is happening, not just in agriculture, but when you'd know this in
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other industries, you have what's called carbon leakage. Industries go elsewhere to produce goods
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in jurisdictions that don't have a carbon tax. And then we have to import those goods back into
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Canada. And it puts us at a competitive disadvantage, which I think in general hurts the Canadian
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individual because the jobs are lost. And you're paying prices that go to companies and industries
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outside of your own country. No, you're absolutely right. And in my riding of Lampton Kent Middlesex,
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we do grow a lot of corn for the ethanol plant that's located down in Chatham, for instance.
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But we're so close in such close proximity to the border with Michigan, that it's easy to import corn
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across the border that where they don't pay a carbon tax where it's even cheaper than it is for the
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plant to buy the product off of the local farmers. And if we're not careful, and if we keep putting
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one tax on top of another tax on top of another tax, it's going to squeeze us right out to the point
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where some of these plants have actually said in the ag industry, if we see any more taxes, or we
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see the, for instance, the clean fuel standards, that's a whole nother topic to talk to touch on.
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But if we see more regulations and more taxes, they're going to go south of the border where they
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have to pay less. And then that puts us at a complete competitive disadvantage. And then we're paying
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more to import it, rather than actually producing it here in our own country.
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I think what gets missed sometimes in this discussion is that the end product, whatever it is,
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has a set price that the market is willing to pay. So if the average individual says,
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I'm willing to pay up to a certain point for whatever it is, it could be, I don't care if it's
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carrots, going out to the movies, a meal at a restaurant, there is a certain point based on a
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scale that they will pay. All these taxes, all these rules, these regulations that incrementally
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increase the price of that final product, at some point, it goes past that mark where the great
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majority of people can afford that product. So it just doesn't get bought, or they move elsewhere to
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produce it so it can get bought and purchased for that price the market is willing to pay.
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So let's stop pushing industry, pushing our farmers out of the business with endless rules,
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regulations and red tape that only put them at a severe disadvantage.
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No, absolutely. And it's important that we have some regulations in Canada, and Canada is known for
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our high food safety standards here. And it is important that we have that. But I think there's
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also ways which we need to look at some of these regulations, year after year and make sure that
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they're modernized, and they keep up with the times because as technology evolves, as advancements
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in science evolve, some of these regulations need to be changed. And we also see that they aren't
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changed. And they're actually impeding farmers from doing what they do best and knowing what they do
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and growing their crops. So it's important that we take away as much red tape as possible and give
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farmers the freedom to manage their land, manage their crops to the best of their abilities, because
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they are the ones who do this year in and year out. And they're the experts in their field.
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And that's why I started off the program talking about the innovation, the technology that farmers
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use every single day, because they are the best stewards of the land, because of course,
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their livelihood depends on it. But I think it goes even further than that, because they actually
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care so much about the lands they are working, and the impact on society as a whole. So to say that
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farmers aren't doing their fair share, I think is disingenuous, and absolutely ridiculous, because they
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are in a lot of cases ahead of the curve, sure, more work needs to be done. But these farmers are
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willing to do it. And they're already moving in that direction. But we also need technology and
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innovation to keep up with that demand that is going on in the field or on their individual operations,
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so that they are able to purchase that at an affordable price.
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No, you're absolutely right. And I'm glad you touched on the fact that farmers are stewards of
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the land. Because coming from a farming family myself, I know we if we don't have good soil, and we don't
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put the nutrients in it, and we don't take care of our land, that's our livelihoods at stake. And any
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farmer will tell you that. And I think farmers are completely undervalued when it comes to what we do
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to help the environment. If you look at all the crops we plant, and the carbon that gets sequestered
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into the crops that we plant, and the way that technology has come come so far, like no till land
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right now, we're doing things where we're making things better for the land and better for us for
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growing our crops. And as things evolve, as science evolves, as we learn more and more, we want it,
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we take care of the land and all farmers want what's best for that land. Because like you said,
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So do you want to talk about the clean fuel standards quickly? You mentioned that a few
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seconds ago. Do you want to talk about that? Because I think some people in different industries
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have said that this could be worse than the carbon tax in terms of impact on the economy impact on
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industry and the price of goods and services right across the board.
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Yeah, and we'll see a couple of different things with the clean fuel standards. One,
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we haven't actually seen them yet. We are hoping or hearing that they're supposed to be coming
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through the Canada Gazette process here, I think next week. So there were some concerns about land use
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and the government dictating how the land could be used by farmers who want to plant feedstocks for
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biofuels. So we're hoping to see that they've taken into account and consideration what industry
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has suggested. And but on the flip side, there's good things because we're going to see more canola,
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for instance, produced in in Western Canada that will go into biofuels. And we're going to see more
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corn being produced to go into the ethanol plants. So there are some good things. But I think there's a
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lot a lot that we still don't know about these clean fuel standards. So I think we're just going to have to
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wait and see what happens when they actually get gazetted and see what they say. And then we'll be
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I should have asked right off the beginning, you have a background in agriculture. Maybe you can tell
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tell us quickly about that. And tell us how how you, you know, your family started with an operation
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you and you were right there right from the beginning, obviously. And you you you learned a lot
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from that experience. I did I do I come from a vegetable farm, like I mentioned before,
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my grandparents on both sides of my family actually were immigrants to Canada. So there are
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great Canadian true Canadian story where they my dad's folks were immigrated from Holland, my mom's
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folks immigrated from Germany via Poland via Germany. And they started working in tobacco fields here in
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Southern Ontario, and were able to work their way to the point where they bought their own land,
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they they in some instances cleared their own land and started farming in the Grand Bend area. So
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my dad's side of the family was one of the first six, I guess we call them settlers in the Klondike
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Marsh outside of Grand Bend, and they would grow vegetables, so a lot of lettuce and onions. And
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my mom's family grew anything from carrots, lettuce, onions, onion sets, and then we ended up with
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about 1000 acres of potatoes. So it wasn't wasn't a small operation, it was quite large. So I'm a third
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generation farmer. And my brother and I still sell potatoes today. And we're proud to carry on the
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tradition that my family has had for years and years. All right, we have to close it out very
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shortly, probably right about now. So I'll leave the final word up to you.
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I just want to say to all the hard working farmers out there, it's been quite a year and thank you so
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much for persisting through weather through the pandemic through the labour shortages and
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every Canadian should be so grateful for the hard work that our farmers do. So thank you very much.
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A perfect place to end it. Thank you Leanne Rood, Member of Parliament for Lambton,
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Kent, Middlesex and Southwestern Ontario and Shadow Minister, there we go, I can say it,
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for agriculture and agri-food. We appreciate her time. So many more questions about that. We'll get
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her back on the program a little later on to really dig deep and maybe we might have some more details on
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that clean fuel standards that will impact not just agriculture but other industries as well. So thank
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you again. New content every Tuesday, 1.30pm Eastern Time. And of course, next week, you'll
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want to tune in for this. Seriously. Erin O'Toole, the leader of Canada's Conservatives is going to be
00:22:47.380
our guest at 1.30pm Eastern Time next Tuesday. Make sure you tune in for that. It'll be a pre-Christmas
00:22:53.940
episode. And of course, as I said, new content every single week. We will have that for you
00:22:58.660
right through the holidays, right into the new year. We do not stop. There is so much at stake here in
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Canada. And we want to ensure that that message continues to get out there. So please, we need
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your help to do that. We need you to like, comment, subscribe, share this program. If you can't watch
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it is out there. Together, we can push back against the ever-moving liberal agenda. So we
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will see you next Tuesday, 1.30pm Eastern Time. Erin O'Toole will be our guest. Thank you to
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Leanne Root for being our guest today. Remember, low taxes, less government, more freedom.
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That's the good Francis. Thanks for joining us.