Agriculture Committee on May 4th, 2021

[Serge Buy]

I would say that there are companies in place that are trying to look at alternatives. I had communication with one of them on Friday, as an example, that is looking at low-temperature pyrolysis. Do not ask me the details of it. I failed science in high school.

There are different options and different systems in place. Yes, I am aware of companies that are looking at this right now. There are a number of them, including some that are putting some money into it. This is why I believe there is hope and there will be a change, but we're saying it will take some time.

[Alistair MacGregor, NDP, Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC]

I caught your chuckle in your exchange with Mr. Perron, when he mentioned the $10 million—over two years, might I add—so if we are going to be serious about this, about powering farms with clean energy and moving off diesel, I take it that in your opinion far more investment is needed in that area.

[Serge Buy]

Canada is at a junction, right? A few years ago, agriculture was seen as a money sink, where most of the time the government was subsidizing farmers. Then, three or four years ago, there was the Dominic Barton report, which said that agriculture and agri-food are a significant player for our economy and job creation [Technical difficulty—Editor]. If that is the case, then we need to be supporting it in the way that our competitors are supporting it. That will require sizable investments, as we've done for other sectors, such as automobile manufacturing and oil and gas. Let's look at what we can do and let's try to invest properly to make things happen in the way we want them to.

[Alistair MacGregor, NDP, Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC]

Finally, in the previous panel of this meeting, we asked officials from the Government of Canada about the differences—about how diesel and gasoline were listed in the act but propane and natural gas weren't—and I think a suggestion was made that it was because of the way the fuel was delivered. You can easily measure fuels like diesel and gasoline for farm use, but because propane and natural gas are shipped through pipes, if they come to a property, they suggested, it might be hard to distinguish whether they are being used for home heating or the barbecue or actual agricultural activity.

Do you have any comments on that suggestion?

[Serge Buy]

I would go back to the same public servants who mentioned that and ask them whether, when they go to their office, they charge their personal phone on the electricity from the government's office. Should they be charged separately on that? Maybe that is something we should look at.

You know what? If we're going to nickel and dime farmers on this, it's not a good idea. I think that's not a very reasonable answer, to be frank.

[Alistair MacGregor, NDP, Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC]

Okay.

Thank you so much for your testimony today.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Thank you, Mr. MacGregor.

That's the time we have, but perhaps I might pose a quick question.

We know that our biggest competitor but also our biggest market is probably the U.S. We know there's a change in the administration and they are really going to tighten up the carbon emissions. If they should impose a carbon price on farmers.... They're also talking about a tax if they don't deem a company's product to be environmentally sound.

Because of our higher heating costs here in Canada and so on, do you think that would change your views on how we should deal with this, and should we just have more incentives to develop the technology faster?

[Serge Buy]

I think we need to develop the technology as fast as we can. We also have a Prime Minister who says he has a great relationship with the new President, so I'm sure we're not looking at taxes on our products or any of those negative impacts.

Let's work on that. Let's put some incentives in place. Let's support and finance the adoption of those technologies, but let's be careful for the farmers who exist presently.

Mr. Chair, you're entirely right. There is a new administration, a new sheriff in town south of the border, probably a bit less loud than the previous one, but there is a new sheriff in town. We're certainly hopeful of seeing some positive changes from that.

Let me be very clear, Mr. Chair. We believe there should be changes and we believe that we should reduce GHG emissions. We just believe we need to do it carefully and not penalize the farming community, which is doing so much to help our country.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Thank you very much, Mr. Buy, for your time here. It was very interesting.

I want to thank the whole committee. I think this is our last meeting on this topic. It was a great job.

That will conclude our meeting for today, and we shall see you all on Thursday.

Thank you, everyone.