Hon. Marie-Claude Bibeau, P.C., M.P., Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food: Thank you, senator. Actually, we have increased AgriStability in the last year and a half. To increase AgriStability and to make it more timely, affordable, bankable and understandable, we have to do it in collaboration with the provinces, because these programs are funded 60% by the federal government, 40% by the provinces. We need two thirds of the provinces to be able to make significant changes to this program.

We did remove the reference margin limit, which was one element in AgriStability that made the program more difficult to understand and, therefore, less bankable. We made this important change that represents $95 million more per year for our farmers who need it the most.

The federal government has put in a contribution of $46 million that we could have put in place to improve AgriStability more by increasing the compensation rate from 70% to 80%. Unfortunately, we did not get the support of enough provinces to make this happen.

I can tell you that the business risk management program is doing better than it was before we arrived. Our government has increased financing to the business risk management programs, and we are, right now, in negotiations with the provinces for the next partnership agreement.

Hon. Mary Coyle: Welcome back to the Senate, Minister Bibeau. I am asking the following three brief questions on behalf of Senator Galvez, and I will ask them all at once.

First, minister, as you are aware, between 2019 and 2020, greenhouse gas emissions from Canada’s agriculture sector increased. When do you forecast that emissions from this important sector will start to decrease?

Second, it is understood that livestock production generates more emissions than the growing of plants of equivalent nutritional value. Does your government promote plant-based diets as being key to a sustainable agricultural system? If so, could you tell us what policies are in place to do so?

Finally, minister, how do government subsidies of crops for human consumption compare with those related to crops for livestock production?

Hon. Marie-Claude Bibeau, P.C., M.P., Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food: Thank you.

The agricultural sector is one that contributes its share of GHG. We do have a strategy to reduce emissions from the agricultural sector. That is why we are investing so much to support our farmers to allow them, invite them and incentivize them to adopt better practices, like cover-cropping, rotational grazing and better management of fertilizer, for example. I’m talking about the On-Farm Climate Action Fund and clean-technology programming as well.

We are doing a lot in consultation with the sector. I am spending a lot of time consulting via Zoom and other platforms, but I’m also glad to be back in the field, travelling across the country to meet farmers and ranchers and having conversations with them. They are committed to doing their part. They understand; they get it. They are the first ones to be impacted by climate change, and they always want to do better.

We have dairy farmers and grain farmers who are both committed to zero emissions by 2050. It is encouraging to see their commitment to go in this direction, and we will be there to support them.

To respond to your second question, we have also invested significantly in the Protein Industries Supercluster. This is a sector that we strongly believe in. Last week, I was in Saskatchewan, visiting —

Hon. Colin Deacon: Welcome, Minister Bibeau, to the Senate.

I was thrilled to see that your mandate letter asked you to devise a strategy that enables farmers to reduce emissions, store carbon in healthy soil and enhance the resiliency of that soil. That directive points to the importance of soil carbon sequestration as a viable approach to mitigating climate change and enhancing the resiliency of our agricultural capacity.

This has received widespread support from farmers, academia, federal researchers at federal research stations, as well as major businesses and even charities, including the Shopify Sustainability Fund and the Weston Family Foundation’s Soil Health Initiative. However, it has yet to receive support from your officials here in Ottawa. Minister, for those of us who are champions of this important approach, what questions would you need to have answered in order to confidently implement this directive? Thank you.

Hon. Marie-Claude Bibeau, P.C., M.P., Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food: Yes, we did reach $82 billion in exports last year. At the same time, it has been a hard year because of weather conditions, but the prices were good. I believe the trade agreements we have signed through the years and diversifying by opening up new markets are helping as well.

We have seen two new processing facilities for the canola industry, so it’s a good example of the investments being made in Canada in processing facilities, and adding value to our commodities also contributes to the economy and the success of our food sector in general.

We are also investing through AgriMarketing, which is a program that will support different sectors of the industry in diversifying their markets and opening up new opportunities.

So, yes, we’ve actually reached $82.2 billion, which is 10% more than the objective.

Hon. Denise Batters: Minister, at a time of war, pandemic and global food crisis in which food security is paramount, this Trudeau government continues to throw roadblocks in the path of Canadian agricultural producers who are trying to help solve those problems. Supply shortages and dry conditions, combined with out-of-control Liberal spending and crushing inflation, mean increases in the cost of everything, including farm input costs. All this Trudeau government delivers are a huge tariff to spike already high fertilizer costs and a skyrocketing carbon tax with a so-called rebate that returns agricultural producers only pennies on the dollar. Farmers in my province of Saskatchewan are having serious concerns about whether to even put crops in the ground in what should be the bread basket of the world.

When will your government get out of the way, exempt agricultural producers from your punishing carbon tax and let our Canadian farmers feed the world?

Hon. Marie-Claude Bibeau, P.C., M.P., Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food: Thank you. Absolutely. I was at the G7 about two weeks ago in Germany with my counterparts, and the Minister of Agriculture of Ukraine was with us, so we had the opportunity to listen to him and understand all the challenges that they are going through in the agricultural sector, such as seeing their agricultural infrastructure, transportation and storage, for example, being attacked, some fields having mines and not having access to the ports.

What can we do? We are obviously working with the industry, and what we expect right now is to see our Canadian wheat producers produce about 7% more. You know that these decisions are often made in the fall. Our producers prepare their coming season during the fall, they buy the inputs and have some rotational patterns that they have to follow. But still, if Mother Nature is with us, we expect to have about 7% more than in a regular year to contribute and avoid a wheat shortage, particularly for those countries who need it most.

[Translation]

Hon. Marie-Claude Bibeau, P.C., M.P., Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food: I understand very well what you are talking about — the customs tariff of 35% being imposed on Russian fertilizer as it is included in our financial sanctions against Russia.

First, we acknowledge it was very important to make sure that this fertilizer was coming to Canada. That was the first issue. It is a matter of food security. We did what was necessary to let the boats get to the Canadian ports, and the fertilizers reach the farmers.

What we’ve also done quickly — and I’m still looking at other options with my colleagues — is a modification to the advance payment program. This program is meant to support grain producers and horticultural — fruit and vegetable — producers to have access to an interest-free loan of up to $100,000; it could go up to a loan of $1 million.

Normally, they can get this loan in two payments, one in April, more or less, and one in July when they confirm what they have really planted, based on the revenue they expect for the coming fall. So we have allowed them to get 100% of this loan as soon as they submitted their request. So that was a quick change that has been made to a program. I’m still looking at different options with my colleagues.

[Translation]

Hon. Éric Forest: Thank you for being with us today, minister.

With respect to land occupancy, one of the important steps is to ensure the continuity of family farms. This is an important issue as our farmers are facing many economic pressures. The average age of farmers continues to rise, and less than two thirds of them have a designated successor.

For many years, our tax rules have penalized those who want to transfer their business to a family member. It is more profitable for them to sell the business to a stranger or to simply close down, which undermines land occupancy.

We have known about this problem for a long time. The Prime Minister had asked you to resolve this issue in your previous mandate letter.

Last June, the Senate and the House of Commons passed Bill C-208 to correct this inequity. However, nothing has happened since then. Bill C-208 still has not been implemented. Budget 2022 only proposes a consultation process, even though this issue has been studied for several years.

How do you explain that, 12 months after Bill C-208 was passed, this legislation still has not been applied or come into force?

Hon. Marie-Claude Bibeau, P.C., M.P., Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food: Our family farms are at the heart of the agricultural sector and land occupancy. I could not agree with you more.

Bill C-208 has been passed and is in force. People can now transfer or sell their business to a stranger or a family member under similar conditions.

I assume that the honourable senator is referring to our announcement that we want to clarify the definition of intergenerational transfer and we therefore plan to introduce a second bill.

I want to reassure people that if they are in a situation where they are making a true intergenerational transfer and are transferring their farm to family members, there is nothing to worry about. However, officials at the finance department have found that there were some abuses in the past with older legislation. We need to clarify what an intergenerational transfer is, so that this business transfer is not used as a simple tax evasion tool.

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Hon. Marie-Claude Bibeau, P.C., M.P., Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food: We have a range of business risk management programs, mainly four. We have crop insurance, and I am in discussion with the provinces because, once again, these programs are cost-shared and often managed by the provinces. A discussion is happening with the provinces in terms of the delay.

There is AgriStability, for example, another business risk management program besides crop insurance. It will kick in if a producer sees a significant decrease in their margins. There is also AgriRecovery that a province would start if a situation — often a weather event — creates exceptional costs for a sector or for a region, for example. This applied last year because of the drought in the Prairies and in Ontario and because of the floods in B.C. The AgriRecovery program worked quite well. The collaboration with the provinces was good, and we were able to make these programs work quickly when we were faced with those situations.

These are two of the programs that could be used if the situation doesn’t get better.

[Translation]

Hon. Marie-Claude Bibeau, P.C., M.P., Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food: Thank you. Sometimes it is when we face adversity that we become more innovative. I am so proud that the industry has risen to the challenge and invested in important processing facilities. I would say at the end of the day, it is the industry and the business people who will make the decision. I am quite confident that they see their interest in value-added.

Actually, last week, once again in Saskatchewan, I was visiting oil seed processing facilities, let’s say, and it gives a lot of hope in the development of this sector — one senator was talking about the vegetable proteins. I think there is a lot of potential out of this, investing through the Innovation Superclusters Initiative. This initiative is allowing innovation to take place, and we are at a stage of commercializing some of these innovations.

It is a sector in which we see a lot of potential. I would say that Canada is a leader in the protein industry right now.

The Hon. the Speaker: Honourable senators, when shall this bill be read the second time?

(On motion of Senator Dalphond, bill placed on the Orders of the Day for second reading two days hence.)

[English]