Bill C-206 Passes 2nd Reading

Feb 26, 2021

A Conservative bill to exempt farm fuels from the Liberal carbon tax passed 2nd reading this week.

Introduced by Conservative MP Philip Lawrence, Provencher MP Ted Falk seconded Bill C-206 to remove the carbon tax from essential farming fuels.

Bill C-206 is now referred to the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food for study before returning to the House of Commons for 3rd reading.

“This is great news for farmers here in southeast Manitoba,” said Falk. “The essential fuels farmers need to feed Canadian families and the world should not be subject to the Liberal carbon tax.”

The bill received support from all Conservative, New Democrat, Bloc Quebecois, and Green MPs in the House of Commons.

Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau says the government is committed to new rebates for on-farm fuel use such as grain drying in order to both support food producers and also anchorage new investments in sustainable technologies that go beyond existing exemptions for farmer fuels and rebates for greenhouses.

"Our government will make grain drying and barn heating a priority focus under the new $165 million Agriculture Clean Technology fund. The program will invest in energy efficiency, fuel switching, and other new technologies on farms. It will be launched in the coming months."

Bibeau made the comments at the Canadian Federation of Agriculture AGM on Thursday.

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Video: Alberta Honey: A Day at Molenkamp Honey Farms

When was the last time you read the label on your honey?

We spent a day at Molenkamp Honey Farms with Michael Molenkamp, who has been keeping bees for 17 seasons and runs three to four thousand hives. In mid-September, he was finishing treatments and getting his bees ready for winter, and he walked us through how Alberta honey gets made.

Alberta has just 150 commercial beekeepers running 300,000 colonies, and together they produce 40% of Canada’s honey. Long summer days and golden canola fields give Alberta honey a light flavour that’s hard to match anywhere else.

Molenkamp calls Alberta beekeepers some of the most resilient farmers he knows. There’s plenty of Alberta honey to go around, but a lot on our shelves isn’t from here, so his ask is simple. Give the label a second look and choose honey made by Alberta beekeepers, or buy straight from a beekeeper near you.