Bill S-230

National Strategy for Soil Health Act

An Act respecting the development of a national strategy for soil health protection, conservation and enhancement

Status

Second reading (House), as of Oct. 29, 2026

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Summary

This is from the published bill.

This enactment requires the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food to develop a national strategy to support and promote efforts across Canada to protect, conserve and enhance the health of soil. It also provides for reporting requirements in relation to the strategy.

Elsewhere

All sorts of information on this bill is available at LEGISinfo, an excellent resource from Parliament. You can also read the full text of the bill.

Bill numbers are reused for different bills each new session. Perhaps you were looking for one of these other S-230s:

S-230 (2021) Providing Alternatives to Isolation and Ensuring Oversight and Remedies in the Correctional System Act (Tona’s Law)

S-230 (2021) An Act to amend the Citizenship Act (granting citizenship to certain Canadians)

S-230 (2016) Drug-Impaired Driving Detection Act

S-230 (2015) Ending the Captivity of Whales and Dolphins Act

Debate Summary

This is a computer-generated summary of the speeches below. Usually it’s accurate, but every now and then it’ll contain inaccuracies or total fabrications.

Bill S-230 would require the development of a national strategy to protect, conserve and enhance soil health, including measures for research, monitoring, education and knowledge-sharing, with targets and timelines and regular progress reports to Parliament.

Conservative

Supports the bill’s purpose: Conservatives support the bill and Senator Robert Black’s soil study, which recognizes farmers’ existing work and can help highlight Canadian leadership in soil health and agriculture.
Protect agricultural research: They criticize the government for closing research farms and cutting agricultural science funding, arguing these facilities developed innovations such as zero-till farming and are essential to improving soil health.
Recognize farmers’ innovation: They point to regenerative agriculture, including rotational grazing, as Canadian innovation that improves soil, water retention and carbon storage, and say farmers need tools to remain competitive and viable.
Challenge government priorities: They argue that farmland loss from development and a proposed high-speed rail project undermines food security, contrasting those impacts with the government’s stated support for agriculture.

Bloc

Opposes federal intrusion: The Bloc objects that the bill intrudes on provincial jurisdiction by merely consulting provinces rather than requiring their consent, and argues Quebec already has a tailored framework for protecting farmland.
Questions national strategy: The Bloc questions delegating a national soil strategy to an organization with no Quebec representation, and criticizes board members linked to pesticide and chemical-input industries.
Calls for research and protection: The Bloc warns that cuts to federal research centres undermine field-based soil research and urges investment in research and regenerative practices instead of reliance on chemical inputs.
Challenges Alto project: The Bloc argues that protecting soil requires assessing Alto’s impact on Quebec farmland and applying Quebec law, rather than sacrificing productive agricultural land for faster travel.

Liberal

Supports Bill S-230: The Liberals support the bill and its referral to committee, saying a coordinated national strategy is necessary to protect, conserve and enhance Canada's soils.
Soil and food security: Healthy soil underpins food production, farm productivity, climate resilience and environmental sustainability; degradation threatens farmers, food security and affordability.
Coordinate existing efforts: The government is already developing a national agricultural soil health strategy with the Soil Conservation Council of Canada and stakeholders; the bill would complement this work with a legislative framework and accountability.
Strategy and accountability: The proposed strategy would recognize soil as a national asset, improve soil data and knowledge sharing, support regionally appropriate practices, and establish targets, timelines and parliamentary progress reports.

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National Strategy for Soil Health ActPrivate Members' Business

October 29th, 2026 / 6:10 p.m.

Conservative

Alex Ruff Conservative Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound, ON

Mr. Speaker, first I want to thank my colleague from Souris—Moose Mountain, who is a hard act to follow and very informative, for his leadership with respect to soil health. That was just an incredible speech. I do want to thank, as well, Senator Black for bringing this forward in the Senate.

This is an important issue. At the same time, I do want to recognize, as many of the speakers before me today have already put forward, that we are blessed here in Canada to have some of the most incredible farmers, who are the leading innovators, when it comes to soil health, in the world. In my own riding, I am blessed to represent what is likely the most beef producers per capita in eastern Canada. It is hard to compete with some of the ridings out in western Canada, but our farmers take their grasslands, their pastures and their soil health very seriously. I have a number of farmers who are organic farmers who fully incorporate rotational grazing and no-till to make sure that the health of that soil is of the utmost importance.

It is something I personally know. I am blessed to have taken over the family farm back home. I have about 60 acres that we are using for crops that another farmer actually rents out. I do not have the time to do it myself, but that rotational stuff is obvious on a daily basis and yearly basis.

I will continue my speech the next time this comes back to the House.

National Strategy for Soil Health ActPrivate Members' Business

October 29th, 2026 / 6:10 p.m.

The Assistant Deputy Speaker John Nater

It being 6:13 p.m., the time provided for the consideration of Private Members' Business has now expired, and the order is dropped to the bottom of the order of precedence on the Order Paper.