Private Members' Business ·
National Strategy for Soil Health Act
“I support this bill to protect soil health. Canadian farmers already do great work caring for the land. But the government is being hypocritical. It says it cares about soil, but it shut down seven public research farms that study soil health, wastes money on foreign projects, and plans a costly train that will destroy prime farmland.”
“Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise to speak in favour of this bill, which comes from Senator Robert Black, who should be commended for the work that he and his team did on developing his soil study, which was released last year. One of the most important parts of this study is that it highlights what Canadian farmers are already doing. Over the last 10 or 11 years, the government has done all it can to mislabel farmers as a problem child, when we know that farmers are doing incredible work. I just want to highlight some of the incredible work they are doing. The Global Institute for Food Security, out of Saskatoon, did a study a couple of years ago that highlighted the incredible work in conservation and soil health that Canadian farmers are already doing. For example, the carbon footprint of canola grown in Canada is 67% lower than the canola grown anywhere else in the world. A trainload of wheat grown in Canada can go around the world three times before it has the same carbon footprint as wheat grown in Europe. GHG emissions from agriculture in Canada are about 8% of our GHG emissions. If we compare that with the rest of the world, where the average is about 25%, it shows the incredible technology, innovation and advancements that have happened right here in Canada. Lastly, about 95% of Saskatchewan farmers are already using zero till or minimal till. However, this is where the problem arises with the bill and what the government is claiming it wants to do. It is claiming it wants to highlight soil health and encourage Canadian farmers to do science and innovation, but the initiative I talked about, how 95% of Saskatchewan farmers are already doing minimal or zero till, was developed at the research centre in Indian Head, Saskatchewan. That technology or that type of precision agriculture would not have happened had it not been for the lengthy study and research of our top scientists at Indian Head. That research and science is no longer going to be happening, as the Liberal government has announced. One of the first things the Liberal government announced after the election in 2025 was that it was going to shut down seven critical research farms and experimental farms right across this country. They include farms in Lacombe, Alberta; Indian Head, Saskatchewan; Swift Current, Saskatchewan; Portage la Prairie, Manitoba; Guelph, Ontario; Quebec City, Quebec; and Nappan, Nova Scotia. In fact, last Friday, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada had the dispersal sale of the beef herd in Nappan, Nova Scotia. One hundred and forty years of critical breeding and forage research has now been lost. To the member for Guelph, who was talking about the importance of soil health in her speech, I want to highlight that every one of the research centres being shut down by the government was doing soil health research. I find it difficult that Liberal government members are saying how passionate they are about soil health and ensuring that agriculture has the tools it needs, when the first thing the minister and the government did when it came to agriculture was shut down seven critical research centres right across Canada. In fact, more than 50% of the cuts to employees at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada came in science and innovation. More than 70% of the total budget cuts came in science and innovation. One moment they are saying how important science, innovation and soil health are to Canadian agriculture, but on the other hand, they are dismantling the very foundation of the science, innovation and research that happen in Canada. They are dismantling that, making it extremely difficult for farmers to achieve the goals the Liberal government is setting out. When it came to those budget cuts, it was not a budget decision; it was a principles and values decision. I want to give a couple of examples, if I may. Closing these research centres is going to save the government about $200 million over a decade, but we are talking about $700 billion in new deficit spending over the next five years. Here are some things the government did spend money on: for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, over the last five years, $16 million on consulting and management fees; $22 million on beans for women for empowerment in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; $20 million on building equitable climate-resilient African bean and insect sectors in Africa; $16 million on leveraging equity and gender-just poultry in Kenya; and $8 million on gender-just, low-carbon rice in Vietnam. It also put $8.5 million into a cricket factory that has now gone bankrupt. They put $40 million into a prison farm which is millions of dollars over budget, and $8 million to transfer the barn at Rideau Hall into a storage facility. Out of more than $300 million in spending, that funding would have kept these research centres open and operating for a decade. This is not a budget decision, this is a values and priority decision by the government, and there are consequences to that. Further to talking about how important soil health in food production is in Canada, Ontario, where my colleague who is sponsoring this bill lives, in Guelph, is losing 300 acres of farmland every single day. About nine farm families are being lost every single week. Our focus should be on protecting, or doing all we can to protect, critical and highly productive agriculture land. Yet the government is plowing ahead with a $150-billion high-speed rail, a train that no one will use, that will impact literally hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland and thousands of farmers. I want to highlight one farmer, Wyatt McWilliams, who was at our agriculture committee a couple of weeks, ago talking about the impact that this is having on his farm, not knowing what the future of a generational farm will be in his Ontario community. What made his testimony so moving is Mr. McWilliams was one of the brothers who started the Hay West initiative in 2002 when western Canada was suffering a devastating drought. Mr. McWilliams got more than 1,000 family farms to donate 60,000 large bales of hay, which was moved across Canada to ensure that farmers in western Canada had feed for their cattle. He was given the Order of Canada for that initiative helping farmers in another part of this country. However, his reward, for launching that initiative and stepping up when he was needed most, from the current government is it is going to expropriate his farm for the $150-billion high-speed rail that is going to go nowhere. No one is going to ride this. When the government is again talking about the importance of food security and food sovereignty, how can it make that claim when on one side it is shutting down critical research centres and experimental farms and, on the other side, building a high-speed rail that is going to dissect thousands of farms across Ontario and Quebec? It kind of shows where the government priorities are. We want to see how important this soil study is, but the government cannot profess to talk about how important this is when its actions are saying something completely different. That is something that we are trying to highlight. It is not that we are against this bill, we are trying to say we are against the hypocrisy of the Liberal government, when it is now saying how important farming is and how important Canadian agriculture is and we know that is simply not the case by the actions that are actually happening. Now the government is talking about cozying up to the European Union, which could further devastate Canadian agriculture if we somehow have to abide by EU standards when it comes to maximum residue limits, pesticides, crop protection products, hormones or carcass washing. Already we cannot get our beef, pork and wheat into the European Union. Now the government wants to align itself even more with EU standards. An Irish farmer told us at committee a couple of weeks ago that trying to farm in the EU is cruel. Those were her words exactly. As Conservatives, we certainly support the premise of this bill and again applaud Senator Black for all of his work and for being an incredible champion for Canadian agriculture. We certainly look forward to seeing where this study will go and highlight the incredible work that Canadian farmers are already doing. As Conservatives, we will continue to fight for our farmers to ensure that they have the tools they need to be competitive and economically viable and to continue to grow.”
Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise to speak in favour of this bill, which comes from Senator Robert Black, who should be commended for the work that he and his team did on developing his soil study, which was released last year. One of the most important parts of this study is that it highlights what Canadian farmers are already doing. Over the last 10 or 11 years, the government has done all it can to mislabel farmers as a problem child, when we know that farmers are doing incredible work. I just want to highlight some of the incredible work they are doing. The Global Institute for Food Security, out of Saskatoon, did a study a couple of years ago that highlighted the incredible work in conservation and soil health that Canadian farmers are already doing. For example, the carbon footprint of canola grown in Canada is 67% lower than the canola grown anywhere else in the world. A trainload of wheat grown in Canada can go around the world three times before it has the same carbon footprint as wheat grown in Europe. GHG emissions from agriculture in Canada are about 8% of our GHG emissions. If we compare that with the rest of the world, where the average is about 25%, it shows the incredible technology, innovation and advancements that have happened right here in Canada. Lastly, about 95% of Saskatchewan farmers are already using zero till or minimal till. However, this is where the problem arises with the bill and what the government is claiming it wants to do. It is claiming it wants to highlight soil health and encourage Canadian farmers to do science and innovation, but the initiative I talked about, how 95% of Saskatchewan farmers are already doing minimal or zero till, was developed at the research centre in Indian Head, Saskatchewan. That technology or that type of precision agriculture would not have happened had it not been for the lengthy study and research of our top scientists at Indian Head. That research and science is no longer going to be happening, as the Liberal government has announced. One of the first things the Liberal government announced after the election in 2025 was that it was going to shut down seven critical research farms and experimental farms right across this country. They include farms in Lacombe, Alberta; Indian Head, Saskatchewan; Swift Current, Saskatchewan; Portage la Prairie, Manitoba; Guelph, Ontario; Quebec City, Quebec; and Nappan, Nova Scotia. In fact, last Friday, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada had the dispersal sale of the beef herd in Nappan, Nova Scotia. One hundred and forty years of critical breeding and forage research has now been lost. To the member for Guelph, who was talking about the importance of soil health in her speech, I want to highlight that every one of the research centres being shut down by the government was doing soil health research. I find it difficult that Liberal government members are saying how passionate they are about soil health and ensuring that agriculture has the tools it needs, when the first thing the minister and the government did when it came to agriculture was shut down seven critical research centres right across Canada. In fact, more than 50% of the cuts to employees at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada came in science and innovation. More than 70% of the total budget cuts came in science and innovation. One moment they are saying how important science, innovation and soil health are to Canadian agriculture, but on the other hand, they are dismantling the very foundation of the science, innovation and research that happen in Canada. They are dismantling that, making it extremely difficult for farmers to achieve the goals the Liberal government is setting out. When it came to those budget cuts, it was not a budget decision; it was a principles and values decision. I want to give a couple of examples, if I may. Closing these research centres is going to save the government about $200 million over a decade, but we are talking about $700 billion in new deficit spending over the next five years. Here are some things the government did spend money on: for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, over the last five years, $16 million on consulting and management fees; $22 million on beans for women for empowerment in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; $20 million on building equitable climate-resilient African bean and insect sectors in Africa; $16 million on leveraging equity and gender-just poultry in Kenya; and $8 million on gender-just, low-carbon rice in Vietnam. It also put $8.5 million into a cricket factory that has now gone bankrupt. They put $40 million into a prison farm which is millions of dollars over budget, and $8 million to transfer the barn at Rideau Hall into a storage facility. Out of more than $300 million in spending, that funding would have kept these research centres open and operating for a decade. This is not a budget decision, this is a values and priority decision by the government, and there are consequences to that. Further to talking about how important soil health in food production is in Canada, Ontario, where my colleague who is sponsoring this bill lives, in Guelph, is losing 300 acres of farmland every single day. About nine farm families are being lost every single week. Our focus should be on protecting, or doing all we can to protect, critical and highly productive agriculture land. Yet the government is plowing ahead with a $150-billion high-speed rail, a train that no one will use, that will impact literally hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland and thousands of farmers. I want to highlight one farmer, Wyatt McWilliams, who was at our agriculture committee a couple of weeks, ago talking about the impact that this is having on his farm, not knowing what the future of a generational farm will be in his Ontario community. What made his testimony so moving is Mr. McWilliams was one of the brothers who started the Hay West initiative in 2002 when western Canada was suffering a devastating drought. Mr. McWilliams got more than 1,000 family farms to donate 60,000 large bales of hay, which was moved across Canada to ensure that farmers in western Canada had feed for their cattle. He was given the Order of Canada for that initiative helping farmers in another part of this country. However, his reward, for launching that initiative and stepping up when he was needed most, from the current government is it is going to expropriate his farm for the $150-billion high-speed rail that is going to go nowhere. No one is going to ride this. When the government is again talking about the importance of food security and food sovereignty, how can it make that claim when on one side it is shutting down critical research centres and experimental farms and, on the other side, building a high-speed rail that is going to dissect thousands of farms across Ontario and Quebec? It kind of shows where the government priorities are. We want to see how important this soil study is, but the government cannot profess to talk about how important this is when its actions are saying something completely different. That is something that we are trying to highlight. It is not that we are against this bill, we are trying to say we are against the hypocrisy of the Liberal government, when it is now saying how important farming is and how important Canadian agriculture is and we know that is simply not the case by the actions that are actually happening. Now the government is talking about cozying up to the European Union, which could further devastate Canadian agriculture if we somehow have to abide by EU standards when it comes to maximum residue limits, pesticides, crop protection products, hormones or carcass washing. Already we cannot get our beef, pork and wheat into the European Union. Now the government wants to align itself even more with EU standards. An Irish farmer told us at committee a couple of weeks ago that trying to farm in the EU is cruel. Those were her words exactly. As Conservatives, we certainly support the premise of this bill and again applaud Senator Black for all of his work and for being an incredible champion for Canadian agriculture. We certainly look forward to seeing where this study will go and highlight the incredible work that Canadian farmers are already doing. As Conservatives, we will continue to fight for our farmers to ensure that they have the tools they need to be competitive and economically viable and to continue to grow.