Analysis · Speech on a motion · beta

Fraser Tolmie

Conservative on Business of Supply 2026-10-06

1304 words · 89 sentences · 106 clauses

Statement grade

Average 94 / 100

A score under 50 is red. Choose a measurement to see where it lost points and why; choose it again to clear.

Procedure 7%Anecdote 2%Claims 57%Reasoning 20%Positioning 8%The question 1%Promise 3%The ask 2%

This view breaks the statement into its steps and names what each one does.

Mr. Speaker, Procedure · 12 wordsI will be splitting my time with the MP for Saanich—Gulf Islands.Procedure Anecdote · 27 wordsThere is an old saying in military circles: Amateurs talk strategy; professionals talk logistics. It is as true on a farm as it is in an army.Anecdote Claims · 171 wordsGetting a crop in the ground and off the field is a logistics exercise from start to finish to have the right equipment in the right place at the right time with fuel in the tank, and that fuel is diesel. Diesel is not a luxury fuel. It runs the tractor and the combine. It runs the grain truck and the locomotive that takes the crop to port. It runs the potash mine and the gravel hauler, and the pickup trucks that Canadian workers drive every day. Nothing in Canada’s food system moves without it. Right now, Canadians are paying more for it than they should, for reasons this government can control. Last month, diesel fuel averaged $2.74 a litre in Canada and a year ago, it was about $1.53.¹ That is an increase of nearly 80%. On September 28, Canadians were paying about 24¢ a litre more than the American average and 31¢ more than the world average.² This is a country with the fourth-largest oil reserves in the world.³ Reasoning · 17 wordsGlobal turmoil explains why prices went up everywhere. It does not explain why they are higher here. Procedure · 5 wordsLet me talk about home.Procedure Claims · 130 wordsHarvest in Saskatchewan has not been kind this year. With waterlogged fields, heat, hail and delays, producers in my riding were already behind, and then diesel costs spiked at precisely the moment they needed it most. Grain Growers of Canada estimates that fuelling a single large combine would cost more than $15,000 more this harvest than it did last year.⁴ Reporting out of Saskatchewan this fall put the added cost of diesel fuel at roughly $20 an acre.⁵ The president of the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan summed it up plainly, saying that “[i]n the spring, [farmers faced] record...fertilizer prices. Now [it is] record...diesel prices, and on top of that, [trade uncertainties threaten what they will get for the crop].... [They are] looking at higher expenses and possibly lower returns.”⁶ Procedure · 10 wordsHere is what members opposite need to understand about agriculture.Procedure Reasoning · 76 wordsFarmers are price takers. A manufacturer can raise the price of what they sell. A canola grower near Lanigan or a wheat farmer outside of Moose Jaw cannot. They sell whatever the world price is that day, less the cost of freight. Every cent added to the cost of diesel fuel comes straight out of their margin. There is nobody to pass it on to and the diesel bill does not stop at the farm gate. Claims · 52 wordsThe grain is trucked to the elevator. It goes by rail to the coast. The fertilizer comes back the other way. Processors, packers and grocers all run on fuel. The cost compounds at every link in the chain and it lands at the checkout in Moose Jaw and in downtown Toronto alike. Reasoning · 21 wordsTax the farmers’ fuel and that is taxing the food. Tax the truckers’ fuel and that is taxing everything they carry. Procedure · 15 wordsI expect the government members will stand up today and say they have already acted.Procedure Claims · 14 wordsThey suspended the federal excise tax on fuel and they have extended that suspension.⁷ Positioning · 18 wordsI will give them that. It was the right call. Conservatives called for it and Canadians welcomed it.Positioning Procedure · 7 wordsHowever, let us look at the calendar.Procedure Claims · 26 wordsUnder the government’s own plan, the excise tax on diesel fuel comes back at half-rate on February 1 and at the full rate on April 1.⁸ Positioning · 12 wordsAnyone who has spent time in rural Saskatchewan knows what this means.Positioning Claims · 149 wordsFarm fuel use is not spread evenly across the year. It comes in two surges: seeding in the spring and harvest in the fall. In between, through the winter, the machines sit in the shed and the fuel bill is at its lowest. The government’s relief arrives in the months when farmers are using the least diesel. The tax comes back on April 1, just around ground thaws and when the trucks that serve agriculture go back to work, when the farm trucks and the semis haul seed and fertilizing fuel out in the field and the grain is still moving to the elevator. There is relief through the quiet months, but the tax is back for the busy ones. It does not stop with the farmer. Spring is when the seed moves, when the fertilizer moves, when the trucks and railcars that serve agriculture are running flat out. Positioning · 9 wordsEveryone knows those leaders will carry the tax again.PositioningUnearned certainty Procedure · 10 wordsSome members will say it is only 4¢ a litre.⁹Procedure Reasoning · 64 wordsIn Ottawa, 4¢ sounds small, but if we multiply it across every truckload of seed and fertilizer, every load of grain to the elevator, every delivery that keeps a farm running in the spring, it is not small at all. On a farm already absorbing record fertilizer prices and record diesel prices, there is no such thing as a cost that does not matter. Procedure · 7 wordsHere is the question for the government: ProcedureThe question · 18 wordsIf the tax was worth suspending this fall, why is it worth bringing it back in the spring? Claims · 14 wordsNobody in the House can promise diesel prices will have come down by April. Reasoning · 56 wordsIf, as the government’s own news release says, this relief is meant to help the food and the agriculture sectors, we should not set the end date right in the middle of the agriculture year.¹⁰ This is not a plan built around how farmers work. It is a plan built around a fiscal calendar in Ottawa. Procedure · 4 wordsOur plan is different.Procedure Promise · 36 wordsWe would eliminate all taxes on diesel until at least Canada Day to carry farmers through seeding, not just through winter, to carry truckers through spring hauling, and give Canadians real breathing room, not a countdown. Procedure · 10 wordsI want to be honest with the House about something.Procedure Reasoning · 18 wordsTax relief alone does not close a 24¢ gap. Tax relief is the bridge. Supply is the destination. Claims · 102 wordsCanadian diesel is more expensive than American diesel because we do not make enough of our own. In southern Saskatchewan, much of our diesel comes from the co-op refinery in Regina.¹³ It is a tremendous asset, but western Canada still relies on fuel brought in from the United States. Last year, nearly 80% of the refined petroleum products Canada imported came from the United States.¹¹ For decades, Canada has shipped its crude oil south and bought it back as gasoline and diesel as a profit to American companies. With a weak Canadian dollar, every one of those imported litres costs us more. Reasoning · 10 wordsThis is not just an affordability problem, but a vulnerability. Claims · 4 wordsWe have the resource. Positioning · 9 wordsWhat we have lacked is the will to build.Positioning Claims · 75 wordsFor 11 years, the Liberal government has blocked and delayed the projects that would have made us self-reliant, like pipelines to carry Canadian crude oil and diesel across our own country, expanded production and a strategic reserve to protect us during shortages. Energy east was abandoned.¹² Approval timelines stretched into decades. Investors noticed and capital went elsewhere. The result is exactly what the motion described: fewer ways to produce, refine and transport our own fuel. Positioning · 35 wordsMembers opposite may have a new leader, but it is the same caucus and the same cabinet that built the record, and Canadians are paying for it at the pump. We have a better plan.Positioning Procedure · 7 wordsWe have shared it within my speech.Procedure The ask · 21 wordsWe are asking the Liberal government to listen to us, to listen to the farmers within my riding and across Canada, Claims · 6 wordsbecause we are a food-producing nation. Positioning · 22 wordsWe are a breadbasket and we are starving our own people because of bad Liberal policy. There needs to be a change.Positioning The ask · 5 wordsWe are asking for support.

At a glance

Lost points for

Switch Claims on to list the checkable claims here.

What the tags mean

Signal · 78

26 of 27 deductions are Signal

Signal checks whether every part makes a point, gives a reason, or asks for action. A low score means the speaker filled time with fluff, pleasantries, or attacks.

Throat-clearing: announcing what you are about to say, or the House’s routine business.What the tags mean “I will be splitting my time with the MP for Saanich—Gulf Islands.”Procedure or throat-clearing: no claim, reason or ask.
A story that illustrates instead of making a point.What the tags mean “There is an old saying in military circles:”An anecdote: it illustrates, it does not claim, reason or ask.
A story that illustrates instead of making a point.What the tags mean “Amateurs talk strategy;”An anecdote: it illustrates, it does not claim, reason or ask.
A story that illustrates instead of making a point.What the tags mean “professionals talk logistics.”An anecdote: it illustrates, it does not claim, reason or ask.
A story that illustrates instead of making a point.What the tags mean “It is as true on a farm as it is in an army.”An anecdote: it illustrates, it does not claim, reason or ask.
Throat-clearing: announcing what you are about to say, or the House’s routine business.What the tags mean “Let me talk about home.”Procedure or throat-clearing: no claim, reason or ask.
Throat-clearing: announcing what you are about to say, or the House’s routine business.What the tags mean “Here is what members opposite need to understand about agriculture.”Procedure or throat-clearing: no claim, reason or ask.
Throat-clearing: announcing what you are about to say, or the House’s routine business.What the tags mean “I expect the government members will stand up today and say they have already acted.”Procedure or throat-clearing: no claim, reason or ask.
Praise, blame or attack with no claim, reason or ask in it.What the tags mean “I will give them that.”Positioning: praise, blame or attack. No claim, reason or ask.
Praise, blame or attack with no claim, reason or ask in it.What the tags mean “It was the right call.”Positioning: praise, blame or attack. No claim, reason or ask.
Praise, blame or attack with no claim, reason or ask in it.What the tags mean “Conservatives called for it and Canadians welcomed it.”Positioning: praise, blame or attack. No claim, reason or ask.
Throat-clearing: announcing what you are about to say, or the House’s routine business.What the tags mean “However, let us look at the calendar.”Procedure or throat-clearing: no claim, reason or ask.
Praise, blame or attack with no claim, reason or ask in it.What the tags mean “Anyone who has spent time in rural Saskatchewan knows what this means.”Positioning: praise, blame or attack. No claim, reason or ask.
Praise, blame or attack with no claim, reason or ask in it.What the tags mean “Everyone knows those leaders will carry the tax again.”Positioning: praise, blame or attack. No claim, reason or ask.
Throat-clearing: announcing what you are about to say, or the House’s routine business.What the tags mean “Some members will say it is only 4¢ a litre.”Procedure or throat-clearing: no claim, reason or ask.
Throat-clearing: announcing what you are about to say, or the House’s routine business.What the tags mean “Here is the question for the government:”Procedure or throat-clearing: no claim, reason or ask.
Throat-clearing: announcing what you are about to say, or the House’s routine business.What the tags mean “Our plan is different.”Procedure or throat-clearing: no claim, reason or ask.
Throat-clearing: announcing what you are about to say, or the House’s routine business.What the tags mean “I want to be honest with the House about something.”Procedure or throat-clearing: no claim, reason or ask.
Praise, blame or attack with no claim, reason or ask in it.What the tags mean “What we have lacked is the will to build.”Positioning: praise, blame or attack. No claim, reason or ask.
Praise, blame or attack with no claim, reason or ask in it.What the tags mean “Members opposite may have a new leader,”Positioning: praise, blame or attack. No claim, reason or ask.
Praise, blame or attack with no claim, reason or ask in it.What the tags mean “but it is the same caucus and the same cabinet that built the record,”Positioning: praise, blame or attack. No claim, reason or ask.
Praise, blame or attack with no claim, reason or ask in it.What the tags mean “and Canadians are paying for it at the pump.”Positioning: praise, blame or attack. No claim, reason or ask.
Praise, blame or attack with no claim, reason or ask in it.What the tags mean “We have a better plan.”Positioning: praise, blame or attack. No claim, reason or ask.
Throat-clearing: announcing what you are about to say, or the House’s routine business.What the tags mean “We have shared it within my speech.”Procedure or throat-clearing: no claim, reason or ask.
Praise, blame or attack with no claim, reason or ask in it.What the tags mean “We are a breadbasket and we are starving our own people because of bad Liberal policy.”Positioning: praise, blame or attack. No claim, reason or ask.
Praise, blame or attack with no claim, reason or ask in it.What the tags mean “There needs to be a change.”Positioning: praise, blame or attack. No claim, reason or ask.

Relevance · 100

0 of 27 deductions are Relevance

Relevance checks whether the speaker stays on topic and answers the question asked. A low score means the speaker dodged the issue. Measured against the motion under debate.

Nothing lost points.

Respect · 100

0 of 27 deductions are Respect

Respect checks whether the speaker argued with people’s positions and records rather than attacking the people: insults, mockery, or bad motives assigned to them. Criticism of what someone did, however strong, is not marked.

Nothing lost points.

Clarity · 99

1 of 27 deductions are Clarity

Clarity checks for plain speaking, clear ownership of actions, and honest limits on certainty. A low score means vague promises or evasive language.

Something stated as certain with nothing to back it.What the tags mean “Everyone knows”The formula asserts a prediction as common knowledge in place of a source.

Claims · 13

This list shows the factual statements you can check for yourself: the words as said, and the claim restated to stand on its own.

1“Last month, diesel fuel averaged $2.74 a litre in Canada and a year ago, it was about $1.53”Canadian diesel fuel averaged $2.74 per litre in September 2026 and about $1.53 per litre a year earlier.search
2“On September 28, Canadians were paying about 24¢ a litre more than the American average and 31¢ more than the world average”On September 28, 2026, Canadian diesel prices were about 24 cents per litre above the United States average and 31 cents above the world average.search
3“the fourth-largest oil reserves in the world”Canada has the fourth-largest oil reserves in the world.search
4“fuelling a single large combine would cost more than $15,000 more this harvest than it did last year”Grain Growers of Canada estimated that fuelling a single large combine would cost more than $15,000 more this harvest than last year.search
5“Reporting out of Saskatchewan this fall put the added cost of diesel fuel at roughly $20 an acre”Saskatchewan reporting this fall put the added cost of diesel fuel at roughly $20 an acre.search
6“looking at higher expenses and possibly lower returns”The president of the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan said farmers were facing record fertilizer and diesel prices and were looking at higher expenses and possibly lower returns.search
7“They suspended the federal excise tax on fuel and they have extended that suspension”The federal government suspended the federal excise tax on fuel and has extended that suspension.search
8“the excise tax on diesel fuel comes back at half-rate on February 1 and at the full rate on April 1”Under the government’s plan, the federal excise tax on diesel returns at half-rate on February 1, 2027, and at the full rate on April 1, 2027.search
9“it is only 4¢ a litre”The federal excise tax on diesel is 4 cents per litre.search
10“this relief is meant to help the food and the agriculture sectors”The government’s news release says the fuel tax relief is meant to help the food and agriculture sectors.search
11“nearly 80% of the refined petroleum products Canada imported came from the United States”Last year, nearly 80% of the refined petroleum products Canada imported came from the United States.search
12“Energy east was abandoned”The Energy East pipeline project was abandoned.search
13“much of our diesel comes from the co-op refinery in Regina”Much of the diesel supplied to southern Saskatchewan comes from the Co-op Refinery in Regina.search

Analysed on 2026-10-19