Learn English with Honourable MP Jan Vanderput. Bill C-234 is a critical piece of legislation that will provide farmers across Canada some much needed financial relief when it comes to the carbon tax introduced by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. But now, Liberal-appointed Senators are trying to kill the bill and bury the news in the fall economic statement.
00:00:00.000Certainly, I appreciate the number of farmers who are standing behind me with me today and have come to Ottawa from all across Canada to voice their concerns with the games that are being played in the Senate when it comes to a very important piece of legislation, a common sense conservative bill, C234, which will provide farmers across Canada some much needed financial relief when it comes to the carbon tax.
00:00:30.000Our Canadian farmers are world leaders in sustainable and efficient food production, but after eight years of Justin Trudeau and his costly carbon tax, their livelihoods and their family farms are in jeopardy.
00:00:41.640This is a reality in rural communities across Canada where farmers do not have any other alternatives to heat and cool their barns and dry their grain.
00:00:51.840They do everything they can to innovate, adapt new technology and ensure the environmental sustainability of their operations.
00:01:00.000That is why this common sense conservative bill, C234, was introduced because a tax on farmer is an increase on the cost of food for every single Canadian.
00:01:12.060As I said, this bill will provide much needed financial relief for our farmers who want to make food more affordable for Canadians in the face of Justin Trudeau's inflationary taxes and deficits.
00:01:22.420Now, there is already an exemption on gas and diesel for farmers, but Bill C234 would expand the exemption to natural gas and propane, which are actually cleaner burning fuels, and this will address what I believe is an oversight in the initial price on pollution and carbon tax regulations introduced by this Liberal government.
00:01:40.420But by giving an exemption on home heating oil for Atlantic Canada, Justin Trudeau has admitted that his carbon tax is unaffordable for Canadians.
00:01:47.420In fact, the Liberal Minister for Rural Economic Development, who should be defending rural Canadians and farm families across Canada, said if farmers wanted relief, they should vote Liberal.
00:02:00.420Well, then why aren't farmers in Liberal-held ridings getting any relief from 234?
00:02:07.420This Prime Minister has admitted that he has a political agenda and not an environmental plan.
00:02:12.420This critical bill earned all party support in the House of Commons.
00:02:17.420But now, Liberal-appointed Senators and the Liberal government are playing games with the Senate after the activist Environment Minister promised no more carve-outs for his prized carbon tax scheme.
00:02:29.420The Liberals in the Senate are trying to kill Bill C234 today and bury the news in the fall economic statement.
00:02:37.420In fact, they are swearing in four new Senators today to ensure they have the votes they need to kill this bill.
00:02:44.420These Senators, including Roger Cousiner, who is a former Liberal Member of Parliament, so not exactly an independent Senate, have not participated in any debates or any discussions on this bill.
00:02:57.420So it would be extremely disingenuous if those five new Senators were to vote on this bill today.
00:03:04.420If they are going to vote against our farmers and vote to increase costs on food for Canadians, then they should face the Canadian public.
00:03:13.420They should not be hiding from their decision.
00:03:16.420Conservatives will not let the Liberals kill this bill today and hide from their responsibility.
00:03:22.420Bill C234 will save farmers close to a billion dollars by 2030.
00:03:29.420Again, this is much-needed financial relief for farmers who are already drowning in carbon taxes, input costs and higher interest rates.
00:03:37.420But the sudden adjournment of the debate on third reading on 234 in the Senate two weeks ago was a clear and malicious attempt by the Liberal-appointed Senators to obstruct this critical piece of legislation.
00:03:49.420Liberal Ministers, in fact, were frantically calling Senators strong-arming them to kill this bill.
00:03:56.420All Canadians rely on our farmers to be economically viable in a time when Canadians are struggling to put food on the table,
00:04:03.420with two million Canadians relying on food banks in the month of March alone.
00:04:11.420And Liberal-appointed Senators need to stop playing games with the livelihoods of Canadian farmers and playing hunger games with Canadian families.
00:04:19.420We are seeing farmers rally across the country this week.
00:04:23.420Rallies in Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario and Atlantic Canada.
00:04:28.420Farmers who have had enough of the Liberal games and need to see Bill 234 passed to make farming and food more affordable.
00:04:36.420In fact, farmers from my own riding of foothills in Alberta have come all the way to Ottawa, have their voices heard.
00:04:42.420From Alberta to Atlantic Canada, our farmers are asking Senators to do the right thing
00:04:48.420and passed Bill C-234 in its original form.
00:04:52.420So farmers have a more affordable livelihood and Canadians have more affordable food to put on their tables.
00:04:59.420Now I'm going to hand over the podium to some of the farmers who have some words to say and describe their personal experiences
00:05:06.420with the harsh realities that the carbon tax and Justin Trudeau's NDP Liberal government policies are having on their operations.
00:05:19.420Thank you very much. My name is Jan Vanderord. I'm a greenhouse cucumber farmer, third generation greenhouse cucumber farmer in Hamilton, Ontario.
00:05:26.420And I'm here to tell you that this is really important that the Senate passes Bill C-234.
00:05:32.420It makes a difference not only to farmers, but it makes a difference to consumers.
00:05:36.420And I know I'm echoing the words that Mr. Barlow just spoke, but people think that they're just going to lay this on the farmers.
00:05:43.420Oh, just one more expense for the farmers.
00:05:45.420But the reality is the consumers of Canada and our competitors will be paying the price.
00:05:50.420Thanks, Jan. My name is Colin Chapdelaine. I'm with Star Produce. We're a grower marketer of greenhouse products in Alberta and British Columbia.
00:06:03.420The issue we have with this is the competitiveness.
00:06:08.420Getting our inputs taxed higher when we export 80% of our product to the U.S. puts us at a competitive disadvantage.
00:06:20.420And we're looking to have this passed unamended so we can be on the same playing field as our partners in the U.S.
00:06:32.420Hello. My name is Albert Kramer. I'm a greenhouse grower out of Alberta and also on the board of the FTG Fruit and Vegetable Growers of Canada.
00:06:41.420And this bill is very important for our area also because we supply all our local markets in Alberta and Saskatchewan.
00:06:49.420And it just gives us an uncompetitive edge against stuff that's coming in from different parts of the world.
00:06:55.420So I would very much encourage that this bill be passed just for food security. Thank you.
00:07:09.420Hi. My name is Hessel Kielstra. I'm from Alberta and we're involved in broiler poultry.
00:07:17.420And this bill is really important to us that it passes unamended because by the time it's 2030 or 2030, it's going to cost us $480,000 a year.
00:07:31.420And that's unaffordable. It has to be passed on to consumers. But as we all know, you can't pass all things on.
00:07:37.420So a lot of farmers will fail because you won't be able to do it economically.
00:07:43.420So it's very important for us that this bill pass.
00:07:47.420And the peculiar thing for us is there's always unintended consequences.
00:07:51.420So even if you go by the spirit of trying to reduce carbon, well, if we start reducing our usage of natural gas,
00:08:02.420we will probably be charged with animal cruelty because our baby chicks will die.
00:08:07.420So those are the type of unintended consequences that people don't always realize.
00:08:12.420So we really hope that the bill passes later today.
00:08:23.420Well, thank you very much for sharing those stories.
00:08:26.420And those are just a few of what we heard.
00:08:28.420I had a dairy farmer from B.C. call me a couple of weeks ago in tears that she's going to lose her farm to bankruptcy by Christmas
00:08:35.420as her input costs and interest rates have quadrupled and her carbon tax has more than doubled over the last year.
00:08:42.420And it's just no longer financially viable for her to hang on to the family dairy farm.
00:08:46.420And she's one of many of those stories that we have heard.
00:08:50.420And I know the Liberal Environment Minister is saying, well, 97 percent of carbon tax is already covered.
00:08:56.420I don't know where the Environment Minister is getting this number because it is complete falsehood
00:09:01.420that 97 percent of the carbon taxes farmers are paying are covered.