Canada-China Relations committee  Yes. Bill C-234 is only for on-farm activities related to natural gas and propane use. However, all the costs that we all see as normal Canadians, as well as transportation—

Canada-China Relations committee  A hundred per cent.

Canada-China Relations committee  Thank you for the question. I'd echo my colleague's comments, and perhaps I'll save the competitor's side for my colleague Michael Harvey. It's a good question because, despite rising export numbers, those are not bankable and not necessarily repeatable every year. We're dealing right now with global conflicts, which are leading to increased commodity prices.

Canada-China Relations committee  It would be by rail to port.

Canada-China Relations committee  Absolutely. Canada needs to get back into the business of nation building. If capacity is needed in the United States at Long Beach, they move heaven and earth, regardless of the party in power at the time. Seven out of 10 tonnes of grains grown in the Prairies by farmers—and many of your constituents—still go through the port of Vancouver.

Canada-China Relations committee  It does. My organization has been a proponent of Bill C-234 since its inception. That would alleviate the carbon pricing on a farm. However, every time the price of carbon goes up, whether that's rail, inputs or custom haul trucking, that all gets passed down to the farmer in many ways.

Canada-China Relations committee  Thank you for the invitation to appear before this special committee. The Canadian Canola Growers, or CCGA, is the national association for Canada's 43,000 canola farmers, representing them on issues, policies and programs that impact their farm success. Developed in Canada, canola is a staple of Canadian agriculture as well as of science and innovation.

Human Resources committee  We haven't, not to that degree. I can say that the agriculture sector does have provisions. The longshoremen are prohibited from striking because over the years it was used as leverage, and then Minister MacAulay, in labour, in 1998 amended that. Again, I think the agriculture sector's view is similar to the telecoms' view, which is not about replacing workers.

Human Resources committee  Thank you for inviting the Canadian Canola Growers Association to speak to you today during your study of Bill C-58. The CCGA is a national association governed by a board of farmer-directors and represents Canada's 43,000 canola farmers on issues and policies that impact on-farm profitability.

Foreign Affairs committee  That's a good question, and a very broad one. I think there's give-and-take in any policy like this. We know that Canada has about 1% of global emissions and that agriculture represents about 10% of Canada's emissions. However, our producers aren't producing widgets: They're growing food, feed and fuel.

Foreign Affairs committee  It's very risky, absolutely.

Foreign Affairs committee  Domestically what Canada can do is make sure that our regulatory system is allowing, for example, gene-edited varieties of plants onto the market in a timely manner, because they have the ability to deal with the use of far less inputs, whether in dealing with water or dealing with heat blooms.

Foreign Affairs committee  That's well said. Yes, policy often goes further than dollars do. When we look at our country, the issues we have in Canada seem sometimes silly relative to the issues we're hearing about today with the Middle East. Canada needs to do a number of things. One is that we need to modernize our infrastructure so that we can move our product from where it's produced to get to export position and to market.

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes, it could be.... I think that 2023 was likely the most expensive crop year ever planted for Canadian farmers. The cost of inputs—whether fertilizer, seed or crop protection products—has never been higher, so we're certainly seeing farmers pinched in a way that they haven't been.

Foreign Affairs committee  It's our understanding that there's a mechanism in place to return the money, but it's also our understanding that none of that money has yet been returned. It's just a commitment to make that return. We certainly wouldn't want to speak to how the government does diplomacy with Russia, but taxing our own farmers for Russian fertilizer, much of which was already purchased before the conflict began, seems counterintuitive.