Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for reminding us once again about the importance of agriculture.
I completely agree with him. The agricultural sector is a pillar of our economy that feeds not only our country, but much of the planet as well. It is an economic driver, as my colleague said, and not just with respect to jobs, although it accounts for one in nine jobs in Canada. It also accounts for a significant portion of our gross domestic product. I want to join him in thanking all our producers, including canola producers.
Canola producers are facing the unfair tariff that China has imposed on canola products. Canola in Canada is one of the best in the world, and we should be very proud of that. We are responding to support the sector.
I want to mention a few things. I would like to remind the member that canola producers were front and centre in the Prime Minister's recent announcement of measures to help them with the impact of tariffs. Those measures include an increase to the interest-free limit for canola advance payments, under the advance payment program, to half a million dollars for the year 2025-26. This change is expected to provide an additional interest savings of up to $35 million to more than 6,000 producers of canola.
In response to the canola sector's call for a domestic market, the Prime Minister also announced more than $370 million to support the stability and resilience of Canadian producers of biofuel and renewable diesel. As part of this announcement, the Prime Minister also made a commitment to make targeted amendments to the clean fuel regulations. Taken together, these efforts will support Canadian farmers through increased demand for feedstock used to produce these renewable fuels, such as canola. We heard at committee some of the sectors saying that it is indeed growing the domestic market economy for canola producers, and that is really welcome.
The Prime Minister also announced new funding of $75 million over five years to the AgriMarketing program to support the diversification of agricultural exports into new high-growth markets such as Africa, the Middle East and the Indo-Pacific. With this change, we are standing up to support our canola farmers. Of course, we will continue to negotiate with China so that it withdraws its unfair tariffs on our sector.