Environment committee  If you wouldn't mind, I'll just comment on that. I think it all boils down to public trust. One of the challenges we have now with social media is that misinformation can get spread very quickly. I'm co-chairing—

Environment committee  Yes. It is a misunderstanding. As I say, particularly with social media, I think it is so easy for somebody to post something and have everyone say, “Yeah, that's right”, and just keep hitting the resend button without stopping and taking a look. We're doing quite a bit of work

Environment committee  I believe Australia is working on something. It's a type of credit program. The reason our staff person is not here today is that he's in Poland at the climate conference. The World Farmers' Organisation has engaged a number of producer groups from around the world to take a loo

Environment committee  On the exemptions that were granted, Rick mentioned farm fuels. Natural gas for greenhouses was exempted. We do have a concern that some of the fuels for heating livestock buildings, such as propane and natural gas, weren't. We want to have a discussion to make sure that a tax li

Environment committee  Yes, we'd agree that there should be some kind of a credit for that. What you could take a look at on the agricultural side, I think, is that wetlands and significant set-aside areas should be part of that as well. More and more, I think there's a recognition that it's that combi

Environment committee  I would say that on the accelerated capital cost allowance, we immediately responded. We thought it was a very good move on government's part to encourage investment. The other part of that, though, is the research and innovation, having the knowledge of the types of things they

Environment committee  If I were looking at a biofuel future, first there are going to be genetically engineered crops that will likely be specifically designed for oil or ethanol production. I think you're going to see some work done on that. The other thing is taking a look at some of the field crop

Environment committee  I'll let the canola people talk on the fuel content. One thing I would say, and I was glad to see it in the fall economic update, is an accelerated capital cost allowance for investments in climate smart investments. I could see livestock barns, greenhouses, other types of agric

Environment committee  It's becoming more prominent. I mentioned the alternative land use services program. The other thing, though, that has been in place for a number of years is the environmental farm planning process. Each province has different incentives they can provide. I can describe what we

Environment committee  It ties in with some of the recommendations that were made by Industry Canada's round table on agriculture, which was looking at the potential. Part of that potential is looking at alternative uses for crops. The bioeconomy has started to take root, primarily in the area around S

Environment committee  The province of Saskatchewan is doing quite a bit of work now on the whole bioeconomy. They're one of the groups that's done it, and a number of different commodity organizations are looking at that potential as well.

Environment committee  Thanks for the invitation to appear before the committee. For those of you who might not know, the Canadian Federation of Agriculture represents farmers from right across the country, through general farm organizations and a number of commodity organizations, and deals with a n

Agriculture committee  I think there is. That's part of the reason I included a few comments about our personal experience. If I look back and think about what we went through, I see there were a number of us who went through it. We're on the borderline of getting into more severe mental illness. Some

Agriculture committee  I think it might be of benefit too, but I don't think you can underestimate the value of a human voice, and that's where I think a call-in line is critical. We are still feeling beings. We're not strictly digital beings. It's an additional tool, but I think you still have to have

Agriculture committee  Specifically, I think that would be something that would likely fit in under a centre for agricultural excellence—doing the research in identifying the types of things that need to be done for rural and agriculture. Agriculture is a specific subsector of rural, but having that ty