Madam Speaker, the agriculture minister pretends to support farmers, but in reality is negligent when needed most.
The minister is complicit in saddling producers with the farm-killing carbon tax, voted against exempting grain drying from the carbon tax, and the Liberals are increasing this tax by 33% next week, which will further devastate Canadian agriculture.
When farm groups asked for $2.6 billion in COVID support, she offered just $125 million and told farmers to drain their agri-invest accounts, money they did not have. This is hard to accept when the Liberals spent $250 million on the Asian Infrastructure Bank and $225 million on quarantine hotels.
At the FPT meeting yesterday, the minister had a chance to support farmers, but, once again, she walked away and took $75 million with her. Instead of offering support, the Liberals are hiking carbon taxes and withholding $75 million from Canadian farm families.
The Conservatives can be counted on to unleash agriculture's true potential and get Canada's economy growing again.