SoVote

Decentralized Democracy

John Barlow

  • Member of Parliament
  • Member of Parliament
  • Conservative
  • Foothills
  • Alberta
  • Voting Attendance: 65%
  • Expenses Last Quarter: $161,345.02

  • Government Page
  • May/23/24 2:11:30 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after nine years, the Liberal-NDP government is not worth the cost to Canadian farmers. This time, it is cutting funding to one of our most successful volunteer organizations. For 111 years, 4-H Canada has been teaching Canadian youth about community, farming and leadership, but in one of his first moves, the Liberal agriculture minister celebrated this incredible milestone by slashing funding to 4-H by 30%. This has forced it to restructure and put incredible programs, such as the Citizenship Congress, at risk. 4-H'ers learn by doing, working hard to promote sustainable agriculture and teach Canadians about where their food comes from. Conservatives understand the importance of Canadian agriculture and being a champion for Canadian youth, who are going to be driving innovation and future economic growth. That is why a future Conservative government will reverse the Liberal funding cuts to 4-H by diverting millions of dollars from Agriculture Canada, because our priority is not going to be useless consultants; our priority is Canadian youth programs, such as 4-H.
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Mr. Speaker, after nine years, Canadian farmers know that the Prime Minister is not worth the cost. Over the last several weeks, I have received dozens of letters representing tens of thousands of farm families from right across the country. These are grain farmers, ranchers, mushroom growers, fruit and vegetable growers, provincial premiers and agriculture ministers. They are unanimous. To ensure the sustainability of food production in Canada, they need the NDP-Liberal carbon tax coalition to reverse its 23% hike of the carbon tax and pass Bill C-234 in its original form. Will the Prime Minister ensure that food and farming are affordable and pass Bill C-234 in its original form?
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  • Mar/21/24 2:43:21 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years, Canadian farmers are at their wits' end, and the Prime Minister and his Liberal-NDP carbon tax coalition are not worth the cost. Instead of preparing for a new growing season, farmers are bracing themselves for another carbon tax increase on April 1. The Agriculture Carbon Alliance surveyed 50 farms and found out they were paying more than $320,000 a month in carbon taxes. That is just 50 farms. There are almost 200,000 farms in Canada, and the punishment is going to get that much worse when the Prime Minister increases his carbon tax by 23% on April 1. Will the Prime Minister give farmers a voice and allow a carbon tax election?
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  • Mar/18/24 2:44:04 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years, the Liberal Prime Minister is just not worth the cost for Canadian farmers. On April 1, the Prime Minister is going to increase the carbon tax 23%. The impact on Canadian food production is staggering. A grain farmer in Simcoe County paid $36,000 in carbon tax in one month. The carbon tax cost a poultry farmer in Alberta $180,000 last year. The food professor, Dr. Sylvain Charlebois, advised the Liberals to spike the hike or see wholesale food costs go up 34%. Food production is no joke. Will the Prime Minister spike the hike so farmers can afford to grow food?
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Mr. Speaker, the fact is that farmers are succeeding where the Liberal-NDP carbon tax coalition is failing. What is the farmers' reward for this? A 23% increase in the carbon tax on April 1. Common-sense Conservatives will axe the tax and reward farmers for those accomplishments. Do members know that wheat grown in Canada can travel around the world three and a half times before it has the same carbon footprint as wheat grown in Europe? Canadian farmers have accomplished this through innovation, not carbon taxes. Will the Liberals finally admit they were wrong, pass Bill C-234 unamended and axe their plan to increase the carbon tax on April 1?
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  • Feb/26/24 2:31:48 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years, the Liberal-NDP Prime Minister is not worth the crime, the corruption or the cost. Common-sense Conservatives will axe the tax because the NDP-Liberal carbon tax coalition has failed. It has not hit a single emissions target. Do members know who has succeeded? Farmers. According to the Global Institute for Food Security, the carbon footprint for wheat grown in Saskatchewan is 67% lower than the rest of the world. Why is the Prime Minister punishing Canadian farmers for this incredible accomplishment? Instead of blaming farmers for his carbon tax failures, will he not axe his plan to increase the tax on April 1?
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Mr. Speaker, here is a number that most Canadians care about: two million Canadians are going to a food bank every single month. However, today is Canada's Agriculture Day, and how do the Liberals celebrate? By increasing the carbon tax by 23% on April 1, but it gets worse. We now know that the amendments to Bill C-234, pushed through by Liberal-appointed senators, would increase costs on farmers by $200 million. This Conservative common-sense bill in its original form would save farmers a billion dollars by 2030. For Canada's Agriculture Day, will the Prime Minister celebrate with me and axe this tax on farmers to make food more affordable?
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Mr. Speaker, I wonder why the Prime Minister's priority is higher taxes and not food affordability. He can find $60 million for his ArriveCAN app, but he needs to quadruple the carbon tax on farmers and food. We are hearing the plea from Canadian families who want to axe the tax to make food affordable. I was in Sudbury this week meeting with organizers of food banks that are at a breaking point as demand has doubled and is rising. There is a common-sense Conservative bill, Bill C-234, which would give a carbon tax carve-out for farmers and lower the price of food. This Prime Minister is not worth the cost. Will he cancel his plans to increase the carbon tax on April 1 so Canadians can feed themselves?
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  • Feb/13/24 2:05:42 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, today is Canada's Agriculture Day. It is a time to celebrate our farmers, ranchers and producers. Canadian agriculture and agri-food play a critical role in Canada's economic prosperity, producing local quality food for families in Canada and around the world. It is also important to note the fact that Canadian farmers set the world standard in sustainability and stewardship. In fact, a tonne of Canadian wheat can travel around the world 3.5 times before it has the same carbon footprint as wheat grown in Europe. This is an incredible achievement, one which should be applauded, and our farmers should be rewarded for their innovation. Instead, farmers are being punished with higher carbon taxes and regulations that are based on activism and not science. As Conservatives know now more than ever, our farm families need advocates, people who will celebrate their accomplishments. I encourage everyone to learn more about where their food comes from and thank those farmers who put quality local food on our tables every day. I wish everyone a happy Canada's Agriculture Day.
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  • Feb/5/24 2:33:09 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the desperation of the Liberals is incredible as they continue to avoid the real question. Canadian farmers should be applauded for their environmental accomplishments instead of being punished by the carbon taxes from the Liberals. Why is that? The carbon footprint to produce a tonne of canola in Saskatchewan is 67% lower than that of European wheat. Canadian wheat could be transported three and a half times around the world before it has the same global footprint as wheat grown in Europe. However, the Prime Minister wants to punish farmers instead of rewarding them for their environmental stewardship. Why will the Prime Minister not cancel his carbon tax increase on farmers to make sure we can grow food for Canadians?
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Mr. Speaker, today the Prime Minister has an opportunity to help families struggling with high food costs. Bill C-234 is back in the House after Liberal-appointed senators delayed and gutted the bill. This is a common-sense Conservative bill that would give a carbon tax carve-out to farmers and ensure that Canadians have access to affordable, Canadian-grown food. When the Prime Minister quadruples his carbon tax, farmers will pay $1 billion a year, driving up food costs even higher. Will the Liberals reject the Senate amendments, take the carbon tax off farming and lower food prices for Canadians?
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  • Dec/13/23 4:37:21 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am very thankful to my colleague, who has always been a strong advocate for Canadian farmers and certainly his constituents in Saskatchewan. This is why I find the comments of the Prime Minister today in question period so offensive. He said that farmers are not telling the truth about the cost of the carbon tax and said that 97% of their carbon taxes are covered. That is completely false. Unlike most any other industry, Canadian farmers pay the carbon tax over and over again, from the rail lines when they transport their grain to the trucking companies when they move their cattle to the shipping companies when they are moving other commodities and buying fertilizer, fuel or feed. They pay it every single time, and those prices and increased costs are passed directly on to consumers.
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Mr. Speaker, it is merry Christmas and I guess the member opposite does not realize what country she is in, but the merry Christmas gift from this Prime Minister to farmers is what? It is a billion-dollar carbon tax bill in their stocking, quadrupling that carbon tax under the tree; and the gift from the Prime Minister's Liberal loyalists in the Senate is to cancel Bill C-234, preventing a carbon-tax carve-out for farmers. When we have two million Canadians lined up at food banks every month and those numbers only getting worse when they increase taxes on farmers, why was the Prime Minister cancelling Christmas instead of cancelling the quadrupling of his carbon tax on farmers, families and first nations?
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Mr. Speaker, I agree with the agriculture minister. Our plan is definitely not to bankrupt farmers and continue to make food unaffordable. Canadian farmers are struggling under punishing input costs such as the carbon tax. In fact, often the carbon tax costs them more than the natural gas they use. Bill C-234, a common-sense Conservative bill, is the solution, but the Prime Minister is blocking his senators from passing this bill in the Senate. Will the Prime Minister follow his 2001 campaign promise to pass it forward, and let this bill pass the Senate to finally take the carbon tax off farmers, families and first nations?
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Mr. Speaker, a common-sense Conservative bill, Bill C-234, would save farmers close to a billion dollars, but the Prime Minister, who is demanding his senators block this bill, is not worth the cost. The Kielstra farm in Okotoks paid $180,000 in carbon taxes this year. When the Prime Minister quadruples that tax, it will be $480,000, just in carbon taxes. There is no way, when two million Canadians are relying on food banks, that we can afford to not have affordable, nutritious Canadian-grown food. Will the Prime Minister finally remove the carbon tax from families, farmers and first nations?
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Madam Speaker, I enjoy working with my very respected colleague on the agriculture committee. There is no question that Canadian farmers understand the changes in climate more than just about any Canadian, as they are certainly at the front lines of that. However, my argument today, in highlighting some of the issues in this report, and yesterday with Bill C-234, is that I do not believe that a carbon tax on Canadian agriculture and Canadian farmers is going to resolve issues when we are talking about the environment and climate change. I have talked to many farmers. Paying hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in carbon tax does not allow them to invest in the new innovation and technology that will help reduce their carbon footprint and emissions. I think we should be incentivizing farmers to do those things, not punishing them with a carbon tax.
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  • Nov/29/23 4:43:51 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I would encourage the member opposite to see what is going on across Canada. Last week, we had rallies from farmers in just about every province in the country, asking the government to understand the impact their policies are having on Canadian farmers and their ability to ensure that Canadians have affordable food on the table. These are pertinent issues that are front of mind for Canadian farmers across the country. As an elected representative of a very agricultural, rural riding, I am just doing my job to ensure that the voices and the concerns of my constituents are being heard here on the floor of the House of Commons. If the member opposite, who has a majority government with a Liberal-NDP coalition, cannot manage the daily organization of the House, I think they have some concerns within their own party. They have control of the House, and they should be able to manage their affairs.
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  • Nov/28/23 3:49:24 p.m.
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  • Re: Bill C-8 
Madam Speaker, a couple of the Liberal colleagues today have put out this statistic that 97% of farmers are exempt from the carbon tax. That is completely and utterly false. We know that the vast majority of farmers pay much more in carbon taxes than they would get in any rebate. In Bill C-8, which I am sure my colleague is referring to, the average farm gets about 15% to 20% back on its carbon tax. However, there is no exemption on natural gas and propane, which we are talking about today. Can my colleague please table with the House the document that states that 97% of farmers are exempt from the carbon tax? I would love to see where the Liberals come up with that number.
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  • Nov/28/23 2:37:55 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, here are the facts that the environment minister refuses to recognize. An Alberta poultry farmer paid $180,000 a year in carbon taxes just to heat and cool his barn. When the Prime Minister quadruples his carbon tax, he will be paying $480,000 a year. That farmer said he cannot afford those tax hikes. His options are to pass on those costs to consumers or just call it quits. Does the environment minister want to bankrupt Canadian farmers and force Canadians to food banks just to save his job?
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Mr. Speaker, farmers from across Canada are calling on Liberal-appointed senators to support a common-sense Conservative bill, Bill C-234, which would lower costs on farming and make food more affordable, but the Liberals' environment minister has threatened to resign if there are any carbon tax carve-outs. This is amazing when we have a record-shattering two million Canadians relying on food banks. The environment minister's dedication to making life unaffordable is unwavering. Will the Prime Minister ask his environment minister to stop threatening so-called independent senators and allow the passage of Bill C-234, so Canadians can afford to feed themselves?
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