Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I do believe we need to be quick on this, so we can get to Mr. St. Amand's motion, but I do have to say that, as always, I appreciate my honourable colleagues across the way. Mr. Boshcoff's only real problem is that he's far too sincere to spin and win like Mr. Easter does. That's one thing I've learned Mr. Easter does very well.
Mr. Easter, you can call it a green shift for the farm economy, you can call it a carbon tax, you can call it whatever you want. You and I both know that the reason you dance around it the way you do is simply because it is going to damage rural Canada, not only farmers but rural Canadians who live in small communities. You know that as well as I do. There is no way you will be revenue neutral on an issue such as this.
This will affect people driving to and from work, this will affect people who drive great distances, this will affect farmers who are trying to cut input costs, and I do believe that this is not a hypothetical debate. This is the key point: this is not a hypothetical debate. This is a policy that has already been implemented by a Liberal government in British Columbia. It is already having negative effects on the farm community in British Columbia. Therefore, this is something we should look at.
I agree we should take some of the partisanship out of this. I would actually propose an amendment to this motion.
Mr. Chair, I would propose that we amend the motion to say that the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food study the effects of a carbon tax or any broad-based environmental tax on Canadian farmers and ensure they are not saddled with a carbon tax which would increase their input costs and hurt their competitiveness.