Hon. Salma Ataullahjan: Thank you. Welcome to the Senate, minister.

Minister, over a month ago, the grain growers of your province of Quebec joined the grain farmers of my province of Ontario to ask you to take immediate action to eliminate the burden on farmers caused by tariffs your government imposed on fertilizer from Russia. In many cases, this fertilizer was purchased last fall, well before the illegal invasion of Ukraine. Vladimir Putin is not hurt by this tariff — Canadian farmers are, at a time of growing food insecurity worldwide.

Minister, you have known about this issue for two months and yet your government has done absolutely nothing to fix it. Why is that, minister? You told the media you’re “following the situation” and “exploring options.” Are you going to take action to actually help the farmers?

Hon. Judith G. Seidman: Welcome to the Senate, minister.

Minister, my question concerns full and fair compensation for dairy farmers for what they’ve lost under the CUSMA trade agreement. In the April budget, your government said compensation for CUSMA won’t be announced until the fall 2022 Economic and Fiscal Update.

In response, the Dairy Farmers of Canada said, “In tabling Budget 2022 without details, the government missed an opportunity to provide predictability to the industry.”

Minister, the new NAFTA came into force almost two years ago, on July 1, 2020. Why is it taking so long to fulfill this promise to dairy farmers?