- Member of Parliament
- Member of Parliament
- Conservative
- Bow River
- Alberta
- Voting Attendance: 65%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $127,198.82
- Government Page
- Feb/16/23 6:27:15 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, what I was talking about was very specific. I am talking about the electricity used for irrigation. I welcome the MP to come out to my riding so he can see how irrigation works. Farmers are using electricity. The gasoline that ag producers are using has gone up by 53%, and other things have increased significantly too. The pipe they use for irrigation is up 44% if they can get it.
The carbon tax is on electricity, and it is tens of thousands of dollars. We are going to grow our ag security in irrigation. It is very specific.
The member is not listening to what I am talking about. I am not talking about policy. I think we need to fix what will provide food for this country and food security. It will be found in irrigation. Production is eight times better there than on dry land anywhere in this country. That is how we are going to get food security. The Liberals are missing the point of what irrigation can do for this country. They are not getting it.
183 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Feb/16/23 6:19:12 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, I am dealing with a topic that is really important to agriculture in parts of our country. It has to do with dichlorvos and leafcutter bees. People are familiar with honey bees, but there is a very small subset of bees called leafcutter bees. These are the ones that are used to pollinate alfalfa seed and canola seed.
There was a decision made in 2020 about this chemical. When they looked at this chemical, they said it is something we do not want to have used in homes. Some people might remember those old fly strips. It was connected with people, but they did not address outside use. Under the labelling, it did not say it was used outside. However, it is used outside for the parasites that attack the leafcutter bee.
The leafcutter bee pollinates alfalfa seed and canola seed. Those people who grow hay, those people who grow canola need this seed. This is critical. There is no more of this supply in Canada at the end of this year. They have used up all of the inventory that is there. This is critical. The producers are saying we need an extension on what was put in to stop it from being used domestically, but this is agriculture.
We need this change now. We are talking about the canola crops in this country. We are talking about alfalfa that is grown. These are the seed producers, and a by-product of these small seed groups is that they export it to the United States for about $16 million a year.
We need to look at this issue. As the 2023 season ends, we will be in trouble with our seed producers in alfalfa and in canola, the very seed producers who produce it for farmers so they can grow alfalfa and canola in this country. We need to address this issue.
Speaking of another particular area in our economy, most of these farmers grow this seed in an agricultural area that is irrigated. In my riding, we have a huge percentage of the irrigation that is done. When we are talking about 2050 and 10 billion people on our planet, we will need 70% more food produced. Where is that going to happen? The intensification will happen in irrigated areas. We have the water. We have the land. We grow 60 different varieties of plants and products that are exported and used in food security.
The problem with the government is that it believes that carbon tax is a good thing. For our food security, it is not. It is not good, because this is an industry that uses a lot of electricity. People will find that I will get the same reply I have before, that the farmers get a rebate, but they get a rebate that is about 10% of 1% back to their operation. This does not solve the electricity. I have ag people out there paying $10,000 a month on their irrigation, on the carbon tax.
This is about food security. This is where we are going to grow more food, so we need to get the carbon tax off the irrigated farms in this country.
535 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Dec/1/22 6:43:35 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, I appreciate the comments, as well as the programs that many agriculture producers across the country enjoy.
Again, electricity and irrigation are challenges we have that were not mentioned. There is one other one that we need to mention and we need to be thinking about it now. The Americans do not have the carbon tax, but they are building a bank of vaccines for foot and mouth disease. Canada has not done anything, and it is not a matter of if, but when. We need to start looking at building a vaccine bank for our agricultural cattle industry. It is going to be critical. I hope the member understands that and will lobby for that particular vaccine bank.
121 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Dec/1/22 6:36:21 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to speak in the House tonight and share the time and discussion on this topic with my colleague from Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, who I know works hard on his file and is committed to agriculture, as many people are in this House. I appreciate that he is here this evening for this discussion.
One of the things I have talked about in the House a number of times is the carbon tax and the challenge it presents for a particular part of the ag industry, which has a lot to do with ag production in Canada, but also specifically in the Bow River riding. My question is to do with the topics of exemption, rebate and inflation.
Canadian farmers, as my colleague would know, are among the most efficient, if not the most efficient, in the world. Ag emissions from Canadian ag producers are 70% lower than the average. At times the public does not understand or realize how efficient the ag sector is, but another important aspect is that Canada is the fifth-largest exporter of ag food in the world. Often ag producers feel like they are vilified. They should be applauded, but they feel vilified in our country.
In the Bow River riding, where the majority of irrigation is in Alberta and 4% of the land produces almost 20% of the Alberta ag GDP, the title of our ag minister is Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation. That is how important irrigation is in Alberta and in the Bow River riding, where the majority of irrigation is.
I am going back to the topic of exemption. To run irrigation, we use electricity. Ag producers use electricity. That powers irrigation. Electricity is not one of the exemptions under this government. The government often refers to the exemptions for fuels like natural gas, but electricity is not an exemption. It is very expensive.
The government will also talk about rebates. The rebate is about 1%, or a penny on the dollar, and these days pennies are not even legal tender. That is not much, so I have seen bills from my ag and irrigation producers of $7,000 per month for the carbon tax. I have seen irrigation carbon tax electric bills of $40,000. Those are huge, and although the government says the rebate is 80%, or eight dollars on $10, it is 1% for our ag producers. That is why they feel vilified.
Inflation has seen a 110% increase. The cost of farm fuel has doubled. Combines can cost $1 million. If we add all the carbon tax on ag producers, they are feeling like they are vilified in their own industry and that the government is leaving them behind. The ag producers will be an industry that cannot produce food security within our own country. Ag producers are price-takers. They have nowhere else to put these costs, and when we talk about taxation, it is brutal.
Electricity is not exempt.
502 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Nov/4/22 12:03:43 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, farmers in my riding are paying hundreds, if not millions, of dollars in carbon tax. The Western Irrigation District’s year-over-year costs for fuel alone jumped by 53%. This fuel runs irrigation that delivers water to crops so that families can get Canadian-grown food on their tables. The rebates the government always talks about do not even come to one-tenth of 1% of the costs, and that is if the farms qualify.
Why will the Liberals not give Canadian farmers some relief and cancel their plans to triple taxes on gas, groceries and home heating?
102 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Sep/27/22 3:03:17 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, the average Canadian family now spends more of its income on taxes than it does on the necessities of food and shelter combined. Farmers in Bow River are paying millions in carbon taxes annually just to power their irrigation systems. Their hard-earned dollars are being syphoned off by the NDP-Liberal government rather than being reinvested in local economies, local infrastructure and local goods. Will the government end its planned tax increases on gas, home heating and groceries so farmers can get back to feeding the world and so Canadians can afford nutritious food?
97 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- menumenu
- notificationsnotifications
- home
- mailmail
- searchsearch
