Huron-Bruce MP Ben Lobb's Private Members Bill to Amend the Carbon Tax Bill is Coming Back to the House of Commons

by Bob Montgomery

Lobb says currently the carbon tax is exempted for farmers using gasoline or diesel and his amendment would also include exemptions for propane and natural gas.

Lobb explains propane and natural gas are used primarily for farmers drying their crops, heating a livestock barn or growing produce in a building. Lobb says the Liberals are opposed to those exemptions for farmers, but he points out, farmers don't get any credit for the environmental good that they do. He says many of them have wood lots that they maintain, they don't clear cut them, they plant cover crops to improve the quality of their soil and reduce erosion. He says they also don't get any credit for the carbon that is sequestered in their crops, and now that the carbon tax is continuing to go up, it's having a significant impact on their bottom line.

Lobb says the bill initially went through the House of Commons and moved on to the Senate where the Liberal appointed senators wanted to take out the exemption for heating livestock barns and for growing food, so now it's coming back to the House of Commons. Lobb says he's now preparing a second Bill stating that he rejects the removal of those exemptions and stating his Bill should be debated in its original form. Lobb says the Bill will be debated on January 29th at eleven o'clock in the morning.