Reading Time: 3 minutes Despite much of the world’s focus being on slumping stock markets and a global pandemic, there are several recent developments out of Ottawa related to agriculture: Canada Grain Act Canada’s Treasury Board has identified the Canada Grain Act as a piece of legislation in need of regulatory reform. This has been on the federal Liberal […] Read more
Ottawa roundup: Carbon tax, Grain Act review, Horticultural Council AGM
Carbon tax an eight per cent hit on net income, APAS says
Reading Time: 2 minutes The average Saskatchewan farmer can expect to lose about eight per cent of his or her annual net farm income to the federal carbon tax to 2020 — and 12 per cent in 2022, the province’s general ag group says. The Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan on Monday released new estimates on the financial impacts […] Read more
Green Party backs grain drying exemption from carbon tax
Reading Time: 2 minutes One of the federal opposition parties in full favour of carbon pricing is lending its support to calls by farm groups for a carbon tax break for grain drying. Vancouver Island MP Paul Manly, the Green Party’s caucus critic for agriculture, announced the party’s position Monday. “We support the grain producers of Canada in their […] Read more
Fraser: The case against carbon pricing for farmers
Reading Time: 2 minutes The federal government continues to suggest the carbon tax imposed on Prairie farmers is necessary to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and may not be causing undue harm to the country’s agricultural sector. Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau speaks publicly about “special considerations” for farmers, while at the same time openly questioning carbon pricing’s effect on their […] Read more
Prairie provinces react to Bibeau’s questions on carbon price impact
Reading Time: 3 minutes Ottawa — The Saskatchewan and Manitoba governments continue attempts to convince the federal government’s carbon pricing program puts farmers at a disadvantage. Federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau recently suggested the carbon pricing system may not be disadvantaging farmers, questioning the impact of carbon pricing on agriculture, but saying she will continue to seek out more […] Read more
Manitoba gathering data to press case for exempting grain drying from federal carbon tax
Reading Time: 2 minutes The Manitoba government is gathering data to make the case for exempting grain drying fuels from the federal government’s carbon tax. “So we’ll get the numbers together and then to (federal agriculture) Minister (Marie-Claude) Bibeau and we’ll continue to lobby on behalf of our ag producers,” Manitoba’s Agriculture and Resource Development Minister Blaine Pederson said […] Read more
Grain groups seek ‘essential service’ status for rail
Reading Time: 3 minutes With Canadian National Railway’s conductors and yard workers headed back to work, several Canadian grain groups now want to head off any future job action in the rail sector. CN and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference announced separately Tuesday they had reached a tentative agreement ending an eight-day strike by over 3,000 unionized staff. The […] Read more
Propane-starved East’s grain growers seek end to CN strike
Reading Time: 3 minutes Farmers fighting through a soggy harvest in Eastern Canada have joined their western counterparts’ call for an end to the strike by Canadian National Railway workers — not to get grain out, but to get propane in. Restoring the supply of propane for Quebec’s farm businesses, in the wake of a Canada-wide strike launched Tuesday […] Read more
U.S. states declare emergencies to help farmers in propane shortage
Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — Regional shortages of propane, which is used for heating homes and barns and by farmers to dry their crops, have led to emergency declarations covering nine U.S. Midwest states amid late harvests of soggy grains. Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota and Wisconsin declared state emergencies beginning in late October, and continued last Friday to […] Read more
U.S. propane bottlenecks not affecting Canada
Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — Despite ongoing shortfalls of propane in some areas of the U.S. Midwest, the situation doesn’t appear to be adversely affecting Canada, according to the Canadian Propane Association. The late harvest in the Midwest has been further hampered by wet conditions, forcing farmers to dry their grain before putting it in the bin. As […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
