The decision to suspend the carbon tax on heating oil is worrying experts on global warming… and farmers.
Justin Trudeau backpedals. Last month, the Canadian Prime Minister announced a temporary three-year pause in the carbon tax on heating oil.
The measure aims to reduce costs for Canada’s most modest households, at a time when inflation is raging in the country.
Although the decision applies nationwide, the vast majority of heating oil is used in the Atlantic region to heat low-income households. Introduced in 2019, carbon pricing was one of the main measures taken by the Trudeau government to reduce the country’s greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2030, as it had pledged to do as part of the Paris Agreement.
But in recent weeks, Trudeau has changed course, leaving behind years of political messages to combat climate change. The decision has provoked widespread criticism.
Firstly from climate experts, who are concerned about the consequences such a decision could have on policy to combat the climate crisis, but also from provincial leaders and farmers’ unions.
Bill C‑234 would exempt agricultural establishments and livestock buildings. Farmers’ unions, who want to maintain the usual food production costs on the fuel used to dry their grain, were quick to jump on the bandwagon.
The price of a metric ton of fuel oil, currently 65 dollars, could reach 170 dollars a ton by 2030 as a result of repeated inflation, according to Grain Farmers of Ontario (GFO), one of the largest farmers’ unions, representing over 28,000 Ontario barley, corn, oat, soybean and wheat growers.
The carbon tax exemption would save farmers 1 billion dollars by 2030, according to the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. Brendan Byrne, leader and spokesperson for Grain Farmers of Ontario, has called on all farmers and citizens who wish to keep production costs at current levels to write to their MPs and Senators, asking them to lift the exemption.
The main opponent of lifting the exemption, Quebec Senator Pierre Dalphond, argued that farmers “have no alternatives for grain drying, but do have options for heating barns and greenhouses.”
“Carbon pricing is considered by top economists to be the most efficient way to reduce carbon emissions. […] The yearly rising price is a powerful signal to consumers that fossil fuels will become more expensive, and that decisions to adopt cleaner alternatives will result in substantial savings,” he said.
A press release issued Tuesday evening by the Grain Farmers of Ontario (GFO) pointed out that growers have no viable alternatives to propane or natural gas for drying grain or heating their barns.
Justin Trudeau had already faced criticism in 2019, when he approved the extension of an oil pipeline, paving the way for a tripling of Canadian oil production at a time when he had just declared a “climate emergency”.
In a vote last Tuesday, Senators overwhelmingly rejected the controversial amendment that would have removed all uses except grain drying from Bill C‑234.
