My motion is as follows:
That, pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food, in light of the Agriculture Minister's public comments on needing more evidence of how the federal carbon tax is affecting farmers, and given the current fuel charge exemption under the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act does not include all fuels used on farms; that the Committee undertake a comprehensive study of the cumulative impact the federal carbon tax has on farming operations across Canada; that the study include an assessment of current agricultural practices and innovation already in place to improve conservation, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve management of the carbon cycle; that the study consist of at least 8 meetings; that the Committee at minimum hear from the Minister of Agriculture and department officials, producers, farm groups, commodity groups, provincial Agriculture Ministers and the Parliamentary Budget Officer; that the Committee report its findings, including its recommendations, to the House and that, pursuant to Standing Order 109, the Committee request that the Government table a comprehensive response to the report.
That is my motion. Mr. Chair, I think I've explained why. I think all of us on this committee would certainly have had calls or have met with representatives from our agriculture stakeholders over the last several months. The impact of this is profound. There's no getting around it.
I think the thing that we hear most often from our stakeholders is that they're not getting credit for the things they have done, or are doing, when it comes to carbon capture and storage, water conservation and those types of things. The question they're asking is whether they could somehow show evidence and data that they're doing more than what they're being charged, and get credit for some of those things.
Last night, a constituent from my riding sent me reams of documents on the carbon tax he is paying. It's albeit a larger operation, but it is $950,000 from now to the time 2022 arrives—it's unaffordable.
We are causing our producers irreparable harm if we continue down this road, and I think there is another way we can get around this, if we have definitive data and can show the minister what this is costing. We could give the government a good reason why there should be some exemptions, because of the carbon capture, because of the stewardship that they are doing.
Until we have data, until we can provide that to the minister, it's very difficult for her to make that decision. I think that's why this motion is so timely.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.