Finance Committee on May 26th, 2026

[Charles-Félix Ross]

In Quebec, 42% of our 28,000 members have a farm that generates $100,000 or less in revenue. These are people who may farm part time, but they often do so with the goal of developing a business. We think that a tax credit for investments would really help these businesses grow, expand and become full-time farm businesses that can ultimately make a living from farming.

[Jean-Denis Garon, Bloc, Mirabel, QC]

It could also encourage new generations or new people to enter the agricultural sector, which is something we need, isn't it?

[Charles-Félix Ross]

Exactly. What we've seen in recent years is the phenomenon of intensive market gardening, where producers grow vegetables on one, two or three hectares of land with very little—

[The Chair, Liberal, Karina Gould]

Thank you, Mr. Ross. I'm sorry for interrupting, but the time is up.

Thank you, Mr. Garon.

We will now go to Mr. Vis for five minutes, please.

[Brad Vis, Conservative, Mission—Matsqui—Abbotsford, BC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

My questions will be directed to Mr. Tierney today.

Congratulations on your new role with the federation.

I represent Mission—Matsqui—Abbotsford. In 2021, we experienced one of the most costly natural disasters in Canada. My riding was also burned to the ground in the Fraser Canyon region. Just last year, we had another major catastrophic flood.

The Sumas Prairie region of the Fraser Valley has an international airport, and the new national firefighting fleet is being constructed there. We have hydro transmission lines. We have the Enbridge pipeline that was just approved for expansion by the government. We have 37% of all oil going to United States through the Trans Mountain pipeline, and it goes right through the flood zone. The pipeline looked like a toothpick because all the land got washed away around it during the floods.

We have an international border crossing. We have a major arterial road connecting the Fraser Valley with Vancouver and the rest of the province. We also have a southern rail line, which is a rail line to the United States, in addition to CN and CP just a few kilometres away in Matsqui Prairie. We are the breadbasket of British Columbia and produce a large majority of the vegetables, fruits, poultry and dairy that are consumed in British Columbia.

What advice would you have for Abbotsford, which has not received any additional infrastructure dollars from the federal government to protect national supply chains, the sovereignty of our country and the well-being of millions of people who are connected with these critical infrastructure points?

[Tim Tierney]

That speaks to a lot. You mentioned wildfires. FCM has been very strong there. We have a $3-billion investment. We work with the federal government on providing a lot of resiliency. That is a very key part that we want to continue to work with the federal government on and roll out.

When it comes to things like infrastructure, that's clearly what we're here to talk about today. Of course, there are other items we look at, such as crime and safety and bail reform, as part of what we do. That being said, we have a lot of resources within our country, and what's critical, obviously, is leadership.

When it comes to the questions of resiliency, we have opportunities that municipalities should take advantage of through our green municipal fund.

[Brad Vis, Conservative, Mission—Matsqui—Abbotsford, BC]

You mentioned the build communities strong fund. I know $6 billion has been allocated out of the $50 billion, over a 10-year period. Would the Federation of Canadian Municipalities be supportive of Abbotsford receiving a portion of that fund to protect this national corridor, the supply chains and the billions of dollars in taxpayer money that is generated from this key area in Canada?

[Tim Tierney]

We'll take that back to our membership. We have our AGM coming up next week, in Edmonton, oddly enough. Thanks for the tee-up there. At that point, we'll have discussions with members about where we see priorities. Certainly that has come up, as have many other areas within Canada.

That's why we're here. It's to make sure we all sing from the same songbook and ensure that we receive the monies that are appropriate for municipalities in need.

[Brad Vis, Conservative, Mission—Matsqui—Abbotsford, BC]

You mentioned that it was a defining moment. I invite you to Abbotsford. We'd be happy to have you. It's a defining moment for our community.

The Fraser Valley is a region that is not really well understood by Ottawa. We're very far away, but when the port of metro Vancouver was cut off from the rest of Canada, that opened up some appreciation for how important we are and how the port of metro Vancouver is connected to all this vital infrastructure as well.

Thank you for your time today. I look forward to seeing you.

That's my time.

[Tim Tierney]

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Karina Gould]

You're early, Mr. Vis. Thank you.

Mr. Lavoie, you have the floor for five minutes.

[Steeve Lavoie, Liberal, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I'd like to thank the witnesses for taking part in this very important exercise this afternoon.

I will be sharing my time with my colleague Mr. MacDonald.

Mr. Goddard, I have a question for you. There are two microbreweries in my riding: Stadaconé and La Souche. I recently participated in a round table with business people. Jean‑Pierre, from Stadaconé, raised concerns about aluminum processing. I'd therefore like to know to what extent the cost of aluminum for cans and packaging hurts the profitability of microbreweries.

What role could the government play to help you?

[Brad Goddard]

Aluminum is a huge concern. Quebec makes most of it for North America. Second only maybe to kegs, which are made of steel, aluminum is the primary way that craft beer gets to market.

The current tariffs have seen our aluminum prices skyrocket at a time when Canadian consumers aren't really willing to pay more for beer. Generally, the increased cost of aluminum that we've been experiencing over the last year has come out of margins or bottom lines of breweries, rather than coming out of the consumers' pocketbooks.

It would be good. There are some things that the federal government could help encourage to create more sheet aluminum in Canada. We actually make a lot of beer cans in Canada. We make a lot of aluminum ingot. It's just that the aluminum ingot has to go to the U.S. and then come back to Canada to be made into cans. There's probably an opportunity there.

As a craft brewer, I can say aluminum cans are a huge strain on our business because they are our path to market.

[Steeve Lavoie, Liberal, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Thank you.

I will give the rest of my time to Mr. MacDonald.

[Kent MacDonald, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

Mr. Goddard, I have another question on craft brewing.

In your presentation, you talked about the excise tax and the 50% reduction on the first 15,000 hectolitres. You didn't think that was high enough. Where would you be looking at offering a reduction in excise tax? To what volume? You mentioned that most of the mid-sized craft breweries are producing a lot more, and they need more benefit.

[Brad Goddard]

The 15,000 hectolitres is great support. What we'd look at is stretching it from 75,000 hectolitres, which is currently the federal government's measuring stick for a small craft brewery. We'd look for the federal government to match Canadian provinces like Saskatchewan, which define craft breweries at 500,000 hectolitres.

I talk in hectolitres. A friend of mine uses a great analogy to ground it. Imagine we're using the word dollars instead of hectolitres. It helps to do this because volume is kind of difficult to understand. Right now, a brewery making $75,000 pays the same income tax as a brewery making $1 million.

We would look at revising that top runway from 75,000 to 500,000 hectolitres, which will create a gentle slope up to that top tax rate that we think small businesses could plan around. Right now, it's quite steep, and it's hard for a small business to invest capital to grow a business with their incremental tax rate. I mean, excise right now doubles basically in the first few steps. It doubles every 2,500 hectolitres. It is maybe the only industry that has such a rapid rise in tax rates.

[Kent MacDonald, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

If the move were made to 500,000, what percentage of the beer industry would be represented in that group of companies?

[Brad Goddard]

Sixty per cent of the beer that we drink as Canadians is made by brewers north of 15,000 hectolitres. A pretty significant portion of the craft beer that Canadians drink would benefit from that reduction in excise tax.

[Kent MacDonald, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

Quickly, to the Union des producteurs agricoles, in Quebec, you mentioned increasing the advance payments program and also the AgriStability trigger. Did you say 85%, from the 70% it's currently at?

[Charles-Félix Ross]

Yes, exactly.

It involves guaranteeing 85% of the reference margin.

[Kent MacDonald, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

That's very much in line with a lot of the other recommendations we've heard at the ag committee.

Are there any other improvements to AgriStability that you could recommend?

[The Chair, Liberal, Karina Gould]

Give a very brief answer, please. There are 10 seconds left.

[Charles-Félix Ross]

Okay.

We recommend establishing a floor and ensuring a minimum reference margin for agricultural businesses, because after a few years of poor revenue, there is no longer a reference margin, so there is no longer a safety net.

[The Chair, Liberal, Karina Gould]

Thank you.

To conclude this meeting, I give the floor to Mr. Garon for two and a half minutes.

[Jean-Denis Garon, Bloc, Mirabel, QC]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

Mr. Ross, I want to address an issue that I find sensitive. The government has already invested $4 billion in a high-speed rail project that doesn't exist. It's a project for which no independent cost-benefit analysis has been conducted. It's a project that was developed without any form of consultation and for which the government has adopted, through Bill C‑15, measures that create two classes of citizens when it comes to expropriation. Those along the Alto corridor will be second-class citizens, as they are being stripped of the right to request a hearing to assess the need for expropriation.

We know that Alto will have to finance 15% of the project and that it will expropriate more citizens than necessary for the purpose of capturing land value. Alto has already spent a significant amount of money on lobbying and media advertising. It has almost become a communications firm that engages in intimidating behaviour toward farmers, particularly in my riding.

I'm very concerned. I think you know that. The people of Mirabel are concerned, too, and rightly so. I would like to know what you think of the measures adopted as part of Bill C‑15 and, more generally, what you think of the government's approach to this project.