Agriculture Committee on March 11th, 2021

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

I don't want to play with technical terms—

[Warren Steinley, Conservative, Regina—Lewvan, SK]

Yes or no?

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

—especially not in my second language.

[Warren Steinley, Conservative, Regina—Lewvan, SK]

Grain dryers, natural gas.... Is that an on-farm fuel use?

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

I'm sorry, but I don't want to play this game.

[Warren Steinley, Conservative, Regina—Lewvan, SK]

Irrigation pumps are pumps that are used to irrigate and pivot—the hand moves, the wheel moves—for irrigation. We looked at expanding irrigation in Saskatchewan. Would irrigation pump fuel be considered an on-farm fuel use?

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

You can continue.

[Warren Steinley, Conservative, Regina—Lewvan, SK]

Okay. Why can't the Canadian government give farmers credit for carbon sequestration that they're already doing, or is that in the works?

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

There's a technical committee that will be put in place to analyze and see how we can put in place this offset system. It is, as you know, under the responsibility of my colleague, the Minister of Environment and Climate Change. We are obviously collaborating with him to make sure that we bring as much data and evidence as possible from the agricultural sector to him. There's not much I can say yet.

[Warren Steinley, Conservative, Regina—Lewvan, SK]

Thank you. I'm glad you brought that up.

Fertilizer Canada is a stakeholder of the agriculture minister. They were not consulted on the report “A Healthy Environment and a Healthy Economy”. They said there is no scientific data to say that they should have to reach the 30% emission reduction in that report. There's no scientific data. Where did that number come from for a 30% reduction in fertilizer production?

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

I would have to turn to my colleague at Environment and Climate Change.

[Warren Steinley, Conservative, Regina—Lewvan, SK]

Has your department done an economic impact analysis on how much a carbon tax of $170 per tonne will cost Canadian producers?

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

Once again, it's not my department that is responsible for that. We have committed—

[Warren Steinley, Conservative, Regina—Lewvan, SK]

You're responsible for agriculture, which reaches across the country.

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

Of course.

[Warren Steinley, Conservative, Regina—Lewvan, SK]

You're supposed to be their advocate.

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

I am.

[Warren Steinley, Conservative, Regina—Lewvan, SK]

When you talk to your environment colleague, the environment minister, are you saying $170 per tonne is going to have an adverse effect on agriculture producers across this country?

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

We are committed to studying what level of rebate we should be giving to the agricultural sector for on-farm fuel. This is something we are looking at very seriously right now.

[Warren Steinley, Conservative, Regina—Lewvan, SK]

Thank you very much.

I know you recently had a call with Secretary of Agriculture Vilsack. I'm wondering, during that phone call, did you bring up COOL? You know it as country of origin labelling. You talked about how there are going to be new order measures. Have we been prepared and are we preparing to fight COOL once again in cases brought up by the U.S. administration?

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

Yes, I did. He reassured me that he would be respectful of our international agreements and the WTO rules.

[Warren Steinley, Conservative, Regina—Lewvan, SK]

We may have to fight that again at the WTO. Have we been preparing to have that fight?

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

We would always be prepared to defend our farmers. He reassured me that he doesn't intend to have a fight at the WTO.

[Warren Steinley, Conservative, Regina—Lewvan, SK]

Sometimes we don't even defend them at home.

I'm glad your colleague brought up the negligible risk on BSE status. If that is granted, will you look at reviewing and repealing the SRM requirements, specific risk material, that beef processors currently have in Canada? It is very detrimental and makes our beef processors uncompetitive, because the SRM is very difficult for them to process and then have it removed from their processing facilities. It was broadened in 2003 because of the BSE cases.

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

You're talking about the pieces of meat that they have to take away.