Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act

Thank you, Your Honour. Quite frankly, I don’t know where I was when I left off, so I’ll start again from the beginning.

Positive change usually comes with increments. If a complete paradigm shift is required to deal with climate change, then a major investment should be made in innovations and public education that demonstrate action and build understanding for behaviour change that is beyond minor increments.

Senators, I said earlier that farm producers have to have optimism and hope. I too have optimism and hope. My optimism and hope are based on the fact that I believe Canadians, armed with information about the role of carbon pricing and about climate change, will make the necessary behavioural change in respect of their carbon pollution.

To do this, they need certainty — certainty through food security and certainty that carbon pricing reflects a fair and equitable standard, a standard that also considers the contributions and the investments of Canadian agricultural producers to the larger Canadian economy as it moves toward a net-zero future.

Bill C-234, unamended, will help farmers bridge between new and anticipated innovations and carbon-pricing increases in the future. Bill C-234, unamended, is only an intermediate step for farmers. It is not a solution. Solutions will require investments in innovation and public education, solutions that I believe are best provided by an independent carbon-pricing body.

Senators, I’m reminded of the words of the First Nations statesman, the words of Chief Mistawasis at Treaty 6 negotiations in August of 1876 at Fort Carlton, just a few kilometres north of present-day Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

He said to us that we should keep in mind our children and our children’s children, children of future generations, children not yet born. In doing so today, I say that the passage of Bill C-234 unamended is an investment in the needs of the farm community in Canada today. Thank you.