Carbon-tax exemption for farm heating survives Senate vote

A private member’s bill promising carbon tax relief for Canada’s farmers cleared a major obstacle in the Senate on Tuesday.

In a late afternoon vote, senators overwhelmingly rejected a controversial amendment to Bill C-234, a private member’s bill. The bill would amend the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act to exempt propane and natural gas from the carbon tax if it is used to dry grain or climate control in barns and livestock buildings.

The amendment, introduced during Senate committee consideration, would have removed all uses except grain drying from the bill, a move that angered the agriculture industry, which says carbon taxes are already driving up their costs.

“This is an example of where legislative government is working, that we can still work under a minority government and have some of these bills pass,” said Mushrooms Canada CEO Ryan Koeslag — one of the many agricultural organizations advocating for the bill to pass amendment-free.