By rdnewsNOW staff

house of commons

MP Dreeshen tables petition on carbon tax and clean fuel standard

Feb 23, 2021 | 2:45 PM

Red Deer-Mountain View MP Earl Dreeshen has tabled a petition in the House of Commons calling on the Liberal government to exempt all direct and indirect input costs that the Carbon Tax imposes on farmers, while also calling on the government to repeal the Clean Fuel Standard.

Dreeshen tabled the petition on Canada’s Agriculture Day on Tuesday.

“Canadian farmers and ranchers are losing tens-of-thousands of dollars in net income each year because of the Liberal government’s ill-conceived carbon tax and that is simply not sustainable for most of them,” Dreeshen said.

“Our global competitors are not burdened by the huge carbon tax debt. But Canadian farmers and ranchers do not have the ability to add the carbon tax levy to the price of their product. They have to pay this tax as it is levied by their input suppliers. Exempting input costs will put Canadian farmers on an equal footing with their international competitors and allow them to keep producing the world’s best and most nutritious foods.”

Dreeshen called attention to the Liberal government announcing at the end of last year that the carbon tax will triple to $170 per tonne by 2030 following a commitment made in the last election that the tax would not increase beyond $50 per tonne. According to the Parliamentary Budget Officer, a farm in Alberta with 850 seeded acres of crops can expect the Liberal government’s carbon tax cost it more than $17,000 per year once the tax reaches $50 per tonne in 2022.

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He noted the Liberal government is also proceeding with the Clean Fuel Standard, which he says some studies estimate will represent a total cost to the Canadian economy of $7 to $15 billion and 50,000 lost jobs, including an impact of $389 million to the Agricultural sector.

“Nobody needs or wants an extra tax on top of another tax so we need to repeal the CFS before it even gets off the ground,” Dreeshen said.

(With file from media release)