Thank you, Jasmin.
CFIB regularly surveys our farm members on issues that impact their agribusiness. It is clear that farmers care about the environment. In fact, almost 80% of farmers have taken action in the last several years to lessen their environmental impact, including 85% of those in the field crop sector.
When asked what motivates their business to implement measures to improve environmental quality, 87% of farmers said they were motivated by their own personal views.
CFIB continues to hear from farmers that the federal pricing backstop plan has already had a significant impact on their bottom line. When CFIB surveyed our farm members, 82% of respondents agreed that the federal carbon tax is negatively impacting their business.
When analyzing the data by sector, 94% of farmers in the field crop sector, and 93% in the livestock sector have been most negatively impacted. When asked to estimate how much their business expected to pay in federal carbon taxes in the first year it applied to them, farmers, on average, paid almost $14,000.
It is important to note that these costs were incurred when the federal carbon tax was set at $20 per tonne of CO2. As you know, the federal carbon tax is scheduled to rise to $170 per tonne by 2030. This amounts to an increase of more than 325% from today and a 750% increase from when this data was collected.
One of the recurring themes in the member comments in our surveys is that farmers cannot pass these additional costs on to their customers. In fact, 83% in the field crop sector said they would be able to pass on less than 10% of the federal carbon tax cost to customers. Over 78% said they would have to eat the entire cost of the federal carbon tax.
Given that most farmers are price-takers, the magnitude of these increases in federal carbon taxes will hamstring farmers' ability to compete and invest in their business and in new technology. In addition, the ripple effect throughout the agriculture sector has ratcheted up indirect costs for farmers from the carbon tax applied to farm inputs and transportation services such as railways and trucking.
It is clear that even an incremental annual increase to the price on carbon emissions is worrying to farmers. When the federal carbon tax was set to increase from $30 to $40 per tonne on April 1, almost three-quarters said it would have a significant impact on their agribusiness.
It is fair to say that farmers are deeply concerned about what these costs will escalate to by 2030. This is why it is important to provide carbon tax relief now, and why Bill C-206 is an urgently needed, positive first step in addressing this unfair burden on agriculture.
CFIB believes that a carbon tax on propane and natural gas to dry grain punishes businesses for utilizing a product for which there are no practical alternatives. In the context of the pandemic, we must look for ways to help farmers and ensure the agriculture sector is competitive and performs to its potential to help lead Canada's economic recovery.
Therefore, CFIB urges all members of Parliament to support Bill C-206.
Thank you for the opportunity to appear before your committee today and present our farm members' views on Bill C-206.