Marie-Claude Bibeau

[Agriculture and Agri-Food, June 20th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, I think that my colleague should show a little more humility and look at the history of the last Conservative government, which cut hundreds of millions of dollars in risk management programs and hundreds of millions of dollars in research and innovation programs.

Our government is there, and we are investing. We increased funding for the sustainable Canadian agricultural partnership by half a billion dollars. We are investing $1.5 billion in clean technologies, new practices, and research and innovation to help the sector be more resilient.

[Agriculture and Agri-Food, June 20th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, we have a clean technology program. We are talking about half a billion dollars' worth of investment in clean technology. One of the innovations that could be deployed across the country is the use of agricultural manure as a source of energy. There is tremendous potential in this area for our farmers.

We will continue to support them in that regard.

[Carbon Pricing, June 20th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, once again, my colleague is twisting information. He is talking about a typical 5,000-acre farm. The average farm in Canada is 809 acres. He is presuming that farmers will not make any effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but they are always doing precisely that. They are the first to be affected by climate change. They are the first to want more information, to want to adopt good practices and acquire new technologies.

We are there to help them with a $1.5‑billion investment.

[Carbon Pricing, June 6th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, what my colleague calls a typical farm is actually the 3% biggest farms in Canada. The projection he is talking about is based on a scenario where farmers would take absolutely no action, would adopt no good practices and would not use any new technologies to improve the agriculture to make it more resilient. This is what my colleague is referring to.

I know that farmers are very committed to reducing emissions to have more sustainable agriculture and to be more resilient in the case of all these extreme weather events.

[Carbon Pricing, June 5th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, as we all know, Quebec has had a carbon exchange for a long time, so the federal price on pollution does not apply.

Our government has a number of measures to help the agricultural sector. One of them is the agricultural clean technology program, which is open right now. I encourage producers who want to acquire these new technologies to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and become more resilient in dealing with climate change to take advantage of this program.

[Agriculture and Agri-Food, June 2nd, 2023]

Madam Speaker, the opposite is true. Agricultural producers in Quebec and across Canada know that our government is there to help them. I am in constant communication with them. Yesterday, I met again with the president of the Union des producteurs agricoles, and I can say that the process of bringing temporary foreign workers to Canada went quite well this year.

We continue to work with my colleagues at Employment and Social Development and the Department of Citizenship and Immigration to improve this process.

[Agriculture and Agri-Food, June 1st, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, I want to wish everyone a happy World Milk Day.

I thank my colleague for giving me the opportunity to sincerely thank all our dairy farmers across the country, who are working very hard to ensure that we have sustainable agriculture.

Do members know, by the way, that our dairy farmers are committed to building a zero-emissions sector? I would like to congratulate them on their plan for sustainable development.

[Carbon Pricing, May 30th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, once again, our Conservative colleagues are providing incomplete information.

I would like to remind members of all the efforts we are making to help and support our farmers, who are the first to be affected by climate change.

One example is the agricultural clean technology program, which is accepting applications from June 1 to June 22. I encourage all farmers who are in transition, who are in the process of purchasing specialized equipment such as biodigesters and grain dryers, to take advantage of this program.

[Carbon Pricing, May 29th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, this gives me an opportunity to remind my colleague of some of the measures that we put in place to help those who need it most, including the Canada child benefit and the various benefits for low-income workers and caregivers.

I also want to take this opportunity to remind the House that the local food infrastructure fund is now open. Money from this fund can be used to pay for equipment for food banks, community gardens and many other organizations in our community.

[Carbon Pricing, May 29th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, as we all know, farmers are the first to be affected by climate change and extreme weather events. Encouraging the biofuels industry means encouraging canola farmers, so I am rather shocked that our Conservative colleagues do not see how this is a good thing for canola farmers.