Agriculture committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I thank the committee for the invitation to appear today. My name is Benoit Legault and I am the general manager of the Producteurs de grains du Québec. Our organization represents 9,500 grain producers from all regions of Quebec. These producers cultivate

Agriculture committee  We represent around 9,500 growers.

Agriculture committee  I don't know if your question addresses.... I'll do it in French. It's going to be easier for me. I imagine your question is mostly about Quebec. As you know, in Quebec we have a particular situation. We have a credit system and we are not covered by the federal tax, so this ex

Agriculture committee  This cost, as I expressed earlier, is enormous. For a farm the size of the ones we have in Quebec that specializes in corn and soybean production, propane pricing represents a cost of $4,000 to $5,000.

Agriculture committee  Our understanding...

Agriculture committee  Thank you. I was just going to say that today, propane pricing is a $4,000 to $5,000 cost, but by 2030, it will be $16,000 to $17,000.

Agriculture committee  I will speak about my sector. The issue of heating buildings is perhaps less important in our case than it is for livestock buildings. The buildings used for grain production are hangars. Of course, the conversion is probably easier. Heating the buildings is certainly not the big

Agriculture committee  What I was pointing out is that the power demand is particular to grain drying. Obviously, you would need at least a three-phase network, but I can't even tell you if that would be enough today or if you would need something more. The three-phase network also depends on the power

Foreign Affairs committee  Good afternoon. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Thank you to the committee members for having us today. My name is Benoit Legault. I am the general manager of Producteurs de grains du Québec, which represents 9,500 grain producers in all regions of Quebec, who cultivate over

Foreign Affairs committee  Eastern Canada actually has access to natural gas from out west, via a facility in Sarnia, which gets the gas from Michigan. You're probably familiar with the situation regarding the pipeline's viability, and the political and environmental concerns inMichigan around one of the

Foreign Affairs committee  I can't answer that. Supply can certainly pose a challenge, but I don't have a lot of expertise in that area. All I know is that supply wasn't necessarily a problem for the plant that was supposed to be built on the St. Lawrence River, in the Bécancour area.

Foreign Affairs committee  I certainly can't disagree with the findings in the OECD's report. I represent grain farmers, and grain is a crop that serves as the basis for many foods in Quebec. The challenges probably aren't the same for grain production as they are for meat production or grain processing f

Foreign Affairs committee  The inclination is clearly to put forward tax credits that support innovation. In the agricultural sector, with the size of businesses and farmers' bottom lines, the tax credit would have to be fairly significant. It can, however, have a limited impact, especially since we are en

Foreign Affairs committee  The simple answer is no.

Foreign Affairs committee  It's well known that the farming community is resilient and always finds a solution. Farmers, like the input suppliers who support them, always find a way. It's been tough, but we've done it. We managed to get a hold of fertilizer in time for spring seeding in 2022. The tariffs w