House passes bill to exempt farmers from paying carbon tax

The cost of drying corn and heating pig barns should be coming down this fall across Canada.

“Really it’s unethical, in my opinion, to charge a carbon tax to a farmer who is making food, who is producing food, for us,” said Huron Bruce MP Ben Lobb.

Lobb’s private members bill exempting Canadian farmers from the carbon tax on natural gas and propane they use to dry crops and heat livestock barns has passed through the House.

Farmers are already exempt in their gas and diesel use to plant and harvest crops. So, these additions should mean savings for farmers who are paying thousands of dollars in carbon tax each month to run their farming operations.

“Realistically, it adds up to many thousands of dollars on all the farms across the province. It’s all food production, right? Everything from drying grain to livestock too, with the heating exemption. It’s going to make a difference on farm costs,” said Stratford, Ont. area grain producer, Josh Boersen.

In 2020, Boersen was paying $1,900 per month just in carbon tax to dry his grain crops. Grain Farmers of Ontario said the carbon tax would cost the average grain farmer another $36,800, just in drying costs, by 2030.

“The carbon tax is going up again on April 1st. Every year with these escalating costs, it’s nice to see that there may be some relief on the horizon,” said Boersen.

However, it won’t come this spring.

Lobb is confident the Senate will pass his amendment to the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act, sooner rather than later.

“Sooner in parliamentary terms is a lot different than sooner, in farm terms. But, I think you could say in the next six to eight months there will be a final vote on the bill,” said Lobb.

Until then, Boersen will patiently wait, and hope that one of his biggest expenses will evaporate in time to dry this fall’s harvest.