Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to my colleague, Mrs. Gray, for putting forward this motion.
For those who haven't been following this, the motion is as follows:
That, given that:
(a) the carbon tax threatens the income security of farmers, farm workers, and employment in the agricultural sector;
(b) the Senate is expected to vote on Bill C-234 to remove the carbon tax from grain drying and barn heating;
(c) Canadian farmers have called upon the Senate to pass this important legislation;
(d) Bill C-234 would save farmers one billion dollars—
That's according to the PBO as well, Mr. Chair.
—and help lower food prices for Canadians;
the committee call upon Senators who are delaying the passage of the legislation to stop playing political games with the livelihoods of Canadian farmers, recognize the decision of the elected House of Commons, and pass Bill C-234 into law without further delay.
This is important in this HUMA committee, because, in the House of Commons, there were 176 votes in favour—“yea” votes—that passed Bill C-234, and there were 146 “nay” votes. You were in those 176 votes, Mr. Chair. You voted in favour of that bill. Thank you very much for that. I know that you believe in standing up for farmers and helping to make life more affordable.
Then it went to the Senate. This is a tax bill. We're merely just waiting for the passage of this. I'll note for those watching that the whole point of this motion is that, if we can't get this bill passed and it's in the hands of the Senate, we have a major problem. It ties into many things that we study in this committee.
The summary of Bill C-234 says, “This enactment amends the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act to expand the definition of eligible farming machinery and extend the exemption for qualifying farming fuel to marketable natural gas and propane.”
With regard to the motion, the member for Foothills, our colleague, has shared this numerous times in the House. He's also the critic for agriculture.
