Chair of the Standing Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry, presented the following report:

Thursday, February 16, 2023

The Standing Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry has the honour to present its

EIGHTH REPORT

Your committee, which was authorized by the Senate on Tuesday, April 26, 2022, to examine and report on the status of soil health in Canada, respectfully requests funds for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2024, and requests, for the purpose of such study, that it be empowered to:

(a) to travel within Canada.

The original budget application submitted to the Standing Committee on Internal Economy, Budgets and Administration and the report thereon of that committee were printed in the Journals of the Senate on June 9, 2022. On June 9, 2022, the Senate approved the release of $21,826 to the Committee.

Pursuant to Chapter 3:05, section 2(1)(c) of the Senate Administrative Rules, the budget submitted to the Standing Committee on Internal Economy, Budgets and Administration and the report thereon of that committee are appended to this report.

Respectfully submitted,

ROBERT BLACK

Chair

(For text of budget, see today’s Journals of the Senate, p. 1270.)

Honourable senators, with leave of the Senate and notwithstanding rule 5-5(f), I move that the report be adopted now.

Honourable senators, as we all know, in the preparation of a travel budget, committee clerks err on the side of caution. Therefore the request that we did send in was on the side of caution.

After my appearance at the Senate budget committee last week, subcommittee members lowered the participation from 12 senators to 9, and removed the costs associated with interpretation. As such, only nine people will be travelling and we will not be offering interpretation services to the committee for the trip.

Recognizing that the travel is coming up quickly, we need to get on with purchasing those tickets and the things we need. This report does reflect the lower amount.