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Carbon price exemption for farm gas clears Commons

Bill C-234 next headed to Senate

Reading Time: 3 minutes Legislative amendments that would exempt farmers’ eligible purchases of natural gas and propane from federal carbon pricing are now en route to Canada’s Senate. Bill C-234, a private member’s bill sponsored by Ben Lobb, the Conservative MP for the southern Ontario riding of Huron-Bruce, passed third reading for adoption in the House of Commons on […] Read more

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau leaves a news conference at Rideau Cottage in Ottawa on June 25, 2021. (Photo: Reuters/Blair Gable)

Parliament rises as farm succession bill passes

Manitoba MP's private member's bill clears Senate

Reading Time: 3 minutes With the possibility of a fall election looming, MPs rose from the House of Commons on Wednesday, marking the end to a parliamentary session featuring a handful of laws impacting agriculture. Brandon-Souris MP Larry Maguire saw his private member’s bill, aimed at lowering taxes on the sales of farms and other small businesses, pass in […] Read more


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Grain drying relief moving forward, one way or other

Governing Liberals telegraph plans to introduce their own measure

Reading Time: 3 minutes Despite voting against a bill to exempt certain farm fuels from the carbon tax, the governing federal Liberals say tax relief for grain drying is coming. Conservative MP Philip Lawrence’s private member’s bill C-206, An Act to amend the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act (qualifying farming fuel), passed second reading in the House of Commons […] Read more

An excavator works on Parliament Hill on Oct. 22, 2019. (Photo: Reuters/Patrick Doyle)

Ottawa roundup: Carbon tax, Grain Act review, Horticultural Council AGM

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


A CN freight train remains halted as train tracks are blocked two km away at Tyendinaga, Ont., east of Belleville, on Feb. 14, 2020. (Photo: Reuters/Chris Helgren)

Canada rules out sending police in on rail protests

Superior Propane expects supply shortages soon

Reading Time: 2 minutes Ottawa | Reuters — Canada’s Liberal government said on Friday it was deeply concerned about protests by aboriginal activists that are blocking some key railway lines but rejected a call to send in the police. Indigenous communities opposed to the construction of a gas pipeline project in British Columbia started interrupting rail traffic last week. […] Read more

Farmers dump bags of corn grain in front of the Papineau riding office of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Montreal, as they protest the lack of propane due to the CN strike, on Nov. 25, 2019. (Photo: Reuters/Christinne Muschi)

CN conductors approve post-strike deal

Reading Time: 2 minutes Canadian National Railway’s conductors and yard workers have voted for at least another two and a half years of labour peace with the company. The affected employees, members of the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, voted 91.3 per cent to ratify a three-year contract with CN, retroactive to last July 23, the union said in a […] Read more


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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

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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


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CN kicks off recovery after eight-day strike

Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters –– Canadian National Railway on Thursday said it was putting a recovery plan in place while ramping up operations after the country’s biggest rail strike in a decade. The eight-day-long work stoppage at Canada’s largest railroad sent shocks through the country’s economy with grain and propane shipments scuttled. The strike by about 3,200 conductors […] Read more

Rail cars in Vancouver. (Photo courtesy/copyright Canadian National Railway)

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