A bill to exempt fuels for grain drying and barn heating from the carbon price has passed at the Senate committee level.
The Senate committee for agriculture and forestry passed one amendment to Bill C-234 on Oct. 19. That cut fuel for barn and greenhouse heating from the proposed exemption.
In final committee deliberations on Oct. 24, an amendment that would make it more difficult to extend the bill’s sunset clause was defeated with a tied vote.
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Senator Yuen Pau Woo proposed the change, which would require a bill to extend the clause instead of an order-in-council. He said called this a “more rigorous, and indeed more proper” process.
Senator Don Plett objected to the amendment, saying it was unnecessary.
“[Without the amendment] this extension must be initiated by the government and must be approved by both houses of Parliament,” he said. “There is no harm in leaving the process in place in case it is needed, and on the other hand, removing the process would potentially harm producers.”
Senator Brent Cotter said that while he’d prefer a more typical legislative process to the one in the bill, he didn’t support the amendment.
“Every amendment that we introduce into this bill puts in jeopardy in the likelihood that the exemption in any form doesn’t see the light of day,” he said. “That seems to me to be sad and ironic since, based on our conversation last Thursday, we supported an aspect of the exemption itself… particularly with respect to grain drying.”
The bill will now proceed to a vote in the Senate chamber. Due to the amendment, it will also require another vote in the House of Commons.
Agriculture groups expressed dismay over the amendment, which cut barn and greenhouse heating from the bill.
“We are disappointed to see some Senators on the AGFO committee vote in favour of a harmful amendment that will only serve to further delay C-234,” said Kyle Larkin, executive director of Grain Growers of Canada (GGC). “Proceeding with this amendment will cost farmers thousands of dollars which otherwise could be invested in the sustainability and efficiency of their operations.”
GGC called on senators to reject the amendment.
“Its alteration by the Senate not only diminishes [carbon price] relief but also increases the cost of Canadian food production,” Jan VanderHout, president of the Fruit and Vegetable Growers of Canada, said in an Oct. 20 news release.
The bill was first introduced in the House of Commons in 2021.
—Geralyn Wichers writes for Glacier Farmmedia from Steinbach, Man.
