Hon. Yonah Martin (Deputy Leader of the Opposition): My question is for the government leader in the Senate.

On this Agriculture Day in Canada, it concerns a matter of importance for many of our farmers. It’s been almost a year since the Trudeau government imposed a 35% tariff on fertilizer imports from Russia, including fertilizer that had been ordered long before Vladimir Putin’s illegal war in Ukraine began. This tariff has punished Canadian farmers, as about $34 million has been collected by the Trudeau government.

Leader, in December, the Atlantic Grains Council, the Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario, the Grain Farmers of Ontario, the Grain Growers of Quebec and the Ontario Bean Growers jointly asked that this money be refunded to the farmers who paid it. What is the Trudeau government’s response to this request?

Senator Plett: Leader, about six weeks from now, the carbon tax will once again increase, going from $50 to $65 per tonne. By 2030, it will reach $170 per tonne. Late last year, the annual food report from Dalhousie University, Canada’s Food Price Report 2023, stated that “by 2030, a typical 5,000-acre farm could see taxes of over $150,000 . . . .” Farmers have to dry their grain, and they have to heat and cool their livestock barns. This isn’t an option for them; they have no choice in the matter. Yet the Trudeau government continues to hurt them financially for that necessary work.

Leader, on this Agriculture Day, why should farmers believe that the Trudeau government understands and supports their work when there is so much evidence to the contrary, especially with regard to the carbon tax?