How the NDP-Backed Carbon Tax Hurts Manitoba Farmers
Statement from Agriculture Shadow Minister Jeff Bereza
Earlier this month, NDP agriculture minister Ron Kostyshyn claimed that the NDP have farmers’ backs. We know that is the furthest thing from the truth, especially when you look at their support for and inaction towards the carbon tax.
Not only has Wab Kinew and his government failed to provide a clear position on the NDP-Trudeau carbon tax, they’ve repeatedly downplayed the negative impacts of the carbon tax on farmers and families.
We know that carbon costs hurt farmers and the whole agricultural sector in their ability to put food on the table for their own families, let alone for all Manitobans. Let’s look at bread as a prime example.
A loaf of bread requires 550 grams of wheat, from which the farmer will get roughly $0.18. Here are the costs to grow that wheat for a loaf of bread in the spring:
STEP 1: Drive to the retailer and purchase certified wheat seed. (Carbon tax on fuel in the truck + carbon tax on propane or natural gas to heat retailer office.)
STEP 2: Purchase fertilizer to grow the crop. (Carbon tax on fuel in truck to pick up fertilizer + carbon tax on fertilizer manufacturing process.)
STEP 3: Planting season begins, at which point the carbon tax will have increased on April 1, 2024. Apply seed and fertilizer into ground. (Carbon tax on seeding equipment to plant the crop.)
STEP 4: June 1st – Crop is emerging, but weeds are taking over and affecting wheat crop. Go to retailer to purchase weed control products in order to maximize yield. (Carbon tax on fuel in truck again to pick up chemical + carbon tax on the retailer truck to scout the field for weeds + carbon tax on the sprayer to apply the herbicide to kill weeds.)
STEP 5: July 1 – Rain has finally stopped, but disease is affecting wheat yield potential. Go to the retailer and choose a fungicide to prevent further crop loss. (Carbon tax on fuel in truck + carbon tax on retailer truck to scout the field + carbon tax on the fuel to run the sprayer to apply fungicide.)
STEP 6: Mid August – Grower fills up their combine to harvest the wheat crop, and then takes the grain to the bin to be stored. (Carbon tax on fuel in the combine + Carbon tax on fuel in truck to take grain to bin.)
STEP 7: Wheat has been harvested with higher moisture content, and must be dried in order to be able to make bread. (Carbon tax on propane or natural gas to run grain drier.)
In order to make $0.18 from one bread loaf worth of wheat, farmers are paying carbon tax at least 14 times. And that’s only to grow the crop. For the wheat to actually be ground into flour and turned into bread, there’s another number of steps that the processor will have to pay carbon tax on as well. The carbon tax adds unnecessary costs to every step, every checkpoint along the supply chain, including all the way to your home.
The carbon tax punishes farmers for putting food on the table for all Manitobans. Yet, the NDP refuse to take action.
Instead, Wab Kinew points to the climate agenda and introducing heat pumps. If the NDP actually listened to farmers, they’d know that there are no viable alternatives to natural gas and propane in food production, and that carbon costs actually hinder rural producers’ ability to invest in upgrades to improve efficiency and reduce emissions. PCs have continued to call on the NDP to remove the carbon tax from natural gas in Manitoba to help farmers and families, but the NDP turn their backs.
Beyond the carbon tax, late last year, the NDP government neglected to include farmers in their 6-month fuel tax ‘holiday’ until myself and my PC colleagues, along with several agriculture organizations, demanded that dyed gas and propane be included. While PCs were able to get the bill amended to remove the fuel tax from dyed gas, the NDP chose to continue taxing propane.
Manitoba farmers deserve a government that makes their lives more affordable, not one that treats them as an afterthought.
Where they should have farmers’ backs, the NDP choose to hold farmers back.