Madam Speaker, I will share my time tonight with the member for Battlefords—Lloydminster.
I am pleased to rise on behalf of the people of Saskatoon—Grasswood here tonight to speak about this concurrence in committee report. Canadians have sent a clear message to the government: They are struggling to keep up with the cost of living and are not getting the support they need. In the middle of this historic cost of living crisis, the Prime Minister decided to hike the carbon tax by 23%. This is just one step in his plan to quadruple the carbon tax over the next six years, a tax that will continue to increase the cost of food for all Canadians.
The panicking Liberals are back to resorting to every trick in the book, trying desperately to prevent farmers from getting a carbon tax carve-out for grain drying, barn heating and other farm operations. The amendment would be another blow to the wallets of Canadians. It would reduce fresh produce availability by some fifty per cent, while costing the industry a remarkable $5.6 billion. I want to talk tonight about how the government and the industry can fight back against rising food price volatility.
I come from the province of Saskatchewan, where people are proud to say that we feed the world. However, times are now changing desperately for producers in the province, as costs have soared under the Liberal-NDP government.
As chair of the Saskatchewan caucus, I can say that we have had extensive talks with SARM, which is the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities. During our talks with president Ray Orb and the entire board at SARM, they brought up the inflationary pressures from the government that are simply killing rural Saskatchewan. The carbon tax, which had increased by 23% as of April 1, led to SARM members' writing letters to every member on the agriculture committee.
The premier of Saskatchewan, Scott Moe, led six other provincial premiers who were opposed to the government's carbon tax increase. Even in the legislature of Saskatchewan, the opposition NDP agreed with the Sask Party on the carbon tax. Saskatchewan has been joined by Alberta, Ontario, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick in asking for a carbon tax carve-out for the farmers and to pass Bill C-234 in its original form.
We should talk about Bill C-234 because it would provide relief to Saskatchewan farmers, but let us recall it was the Liberal-controlled Senate that gutted the bill in that place. The Senate amendments would cost Saskatchewan farmers $9 million this year, and by 2030, an added cost of $96 million. That is from one bill, Bill C-234.
Provinces like B.C., where MLAs once actually supported a carbon tax, have turned right around. They have turned their backs on the federal government, although we all know it is flip-flop for Premier Eby, as he knows he will probably be going down in the next 28 days.
The Canadian Federation of Agriculture surveyed the impact of the carbon tax on crop production, livestock and greenhouse farms across this country. It found that the carbon tax accounted for up to 40% of their energy bills. In my province alone, farm efforts to sequester carbon have gone basically unrecognized by the NDP-Liberal government.
The policies by the NDP-Liberals are simply punishing farmers. The government's ideological pursuit to penalize greenhouse gas emitters through the carbon tax, to me, is very short-sighted and inequitable. Farmers have, for years, maybe even decades, demonstrated an ability to deliver meaningful reductions in emissions through the adoption of new technologies, through education and through innovative practices, not through taxes.
In Saskatoon, we hold the crop production show every January at Prairieland Park, which, by the way, is in my riding. Thousands of producers come from all over western Canada and the United States to talk about farming innovation. Then, in July, just a couple of months ago, we had Ag in Motion just outside of Saskatoon, in Langham, bringing tens of thousands of producers together from all over the world to find best practices. One could not get a hotel room within a 100-kilometre radius of Saskatoon; everything was full for that four-day show. I cannot forget about the Canadian Western Agribition show in Regina each November, as it services farmers and ranchers from all over the world, and we are innovative in our thoughts going forward.
Farming groups are on the leading edge of innovation. We have led for years, for decades, trying to find innovative ways to produce food for the entire world. I compliment the innovative companies that have set up in my province, like Bourgault; Agtron; Brandt Industries; Schulte Industries; Bin-Sense, a new company that just started in Saskatchewan; Redekop Industries; and Wilger Industries, which, by the way, sell their product to John Deere and Case worldwide. Many other companies have surfaced in Saskatchewan. All one has to do is go to the small communities in my province. Every little town has set up something on agriculture, and that is what is keeping them alive. Saskatchewan has led the world for decades on zero tillage. It has led on direct seeding, crop rotation and rotational grazing.
With the Bank of Canada confirming that the carbon tax was responsible for at least 16% of inflation last October, it is no wonder that the food professor that we have talked about from Dalhousie University, Dr. Charlebois, recommended a pause on the carbon tax for the entire food industry. We in the Conservative Party also want to axe the tax. We know that it is hurting every citizen in this country. Why? Two million people are visiting food banks today in this country, with 25,000 in my city of Saskatoon, a city of just under 300,000 people. We have 25,000 people per month visiting the Saskatoon Food Bank, in a province that produces food for the entire world.
Yesterday, I had the chance to pop into a grocery store in downtown Ottawa. I was shocked. Three tomatoes cost $5.50, three apples cost $5.00, raspberries were $6.00 and the list goes on and on.
We had a chance to visit Yorkton Grain Millers about a year, a year and a half ago. It supplies oats. It has one production facility in Canada and several others in the United States. The day that we arrived at the mill was fantastic. There were trucks lined up 24-7. These trucks transport oats from as far as 200 kilometres away.
The carbon tax we have talked about is affecting the trucking industry deeply. It is hard to compete against other jurisdictions that do not have a carbon tax. We saw it first-hand in Yorkton and how the producers around the Yorkton, Manitoba and Saskatchewan area are feeding off grain millers.
My dad was the head miller at Robin Hood in Ontario, Moose Jaw and Saskatoon. If he were alive today, he would be shocked, because it is the cost of production that is going through the roof that has hurt every Canadian coast to coast to coast.
