OTTAWA — As if a waterlogged crop, trade problems with China and a railway strike weren’t enough, Manitoba farmers are being forced to pay the carbon tax on some items under rules that they argue don’t make sense.
They are pleading with the federal government to fix an apparent oversight that has hit them in the pocketbook.
"We’re shooting ourselves in the foot," said Warren McCutcheon, who grows corn near Carman, 70 kilometres southwest of Winnipeg.
He’s among hundreds of family farmers who want the Trudeau government to eliminate the carbon tax on the practice of grain drying. It’s one of the few agricultural tasks that is subject to the federal levy. Fuel used for agriculture is exempt from the tax because there are few environmentally friendly alternatives to it. Officials decided it would be counterproductive to apply the tax in cases where customers would likely shift to cheaper foreign products, resulting in a minimal effect on carbon emissions.
The carbon tax isn’t charged on propane in some parts of farming, but it is charged on fuel used to dry grain.
When grain that has been harvested is too wet, it must be dried. It’s not possible to dry it using electricity. Technology to switch grain drying from fuel to hydroelectricity is likely years away.
McCutcheon said the three-cent levy on every litre of propane has cost his farm $1,800 to date.
In North Dakota, farmers are able to dry their crops without paying such a levy.
"It’s disappointing and frustrating that our government seems to want to make us a less competitive industry, one that benefits our country in so many ways," McCutcheon said.
Manitoba’s proposed carbon tax exempted grain drying. Premier Brian Pallister scrapped his proposed plan in October 2018, so the federal government imposed its own on Manitoba.
The issue has percolated for weeks, with premiers of the three Prairie provinces asking for the tax to be stripped from the cost of grain drying. Federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau has asked the three Prairie provinces to tabulate the cost.
“It’s like a perfect storm aligning and hitting you all at one time. That’s what we’ve encountered in Manitoba this year. I consider that a huge issue, with regards to the federal government not understanding western Canadian agriculture."— Keystone Agricultural Producers president Bill Campbell
Farmers are now paying the price - right across Canada.........................
FOR EMBARRASSING LIE-berals by shooting native thieves........................
who are raiding rural properties!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nor have rural folks endeared themselves to LIE-berals by complaining about being harassed by drug addled goofs out on parole!!!!!!!
LIE-berals expect farmers to simply ABSORB the losses from thieves.......................
in the same way they absorb crop losses from insects and Deer etc!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And the simplistic LIE-beral mindset simply assumes the solution to higher costs IS TO RAISE PRICES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
LIE-berals DO NOT CARE to consider that other suppliers from south of the border - with lower prices..............................
may run Cdn farmers out of biz!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!