Ag in the House: Nov. 24 – 28

The Conservative push to eliminate the industrial carbon tax continued

Conservative MPs continued to call on the Liberal government to scrap the industrial carbon tax.

During question period on Nov. 24, Connie Cody, the Conservative MP for Cambridge, pointed at the carbon tax as the reason for high food prices and increased food bank use.

“The culprit is simple,” she said. “It is the Liberal industrial carbon tax on farmers and fertilizer that gets baked into every loaf of bread and every slice of meat on the shelves.”

Liberal House Leader Steven MacKinnon answered.

He reminded the House that carbon pricing’s effect on food prices is negligible.

“There is no tax on food. Farms are largely, if not totally, exempt from the industrial carbon tax,” he said. “Even their favourite Twitter guy, the food professor, says there is no incidence on food prices from the matters the member mentions.”

On Nov. 25, John Barlow, the Conservative agriculture critic, wanted answers with respect to the grocery code of conduct.

The code of conduct doesn’t provide its intended food price relief because it was never meant to, he said.

“Every single expert at the agriculture committee, including the president of the grocery code, said that it was never designed to lower food prices, so will the Minister of Finance please stand to explain to Canadians why he promised the code would lower food prices when he knew it would do no such thing?”

Jobs Minister Patti Hajdu provided the response, citing Dr. Sylvain Charlebois’s work indicating climate change is causing food prices to increase.

Barlow then asked why the government continues to increase taxes on food and fuel.

Wayne Long, the secretary of state for Canada Revenue Agency responded, but didn’t actually address the issue.