Bill C-234 took a step forward on Wednesday, as the House of Commons voted in favour of it at second reading, sending it to the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food for review.
The private member’s bill brought forward by Conservative MP Ben Lobb would amend the federal government’s carbon pricing legislation to provide an exemption for natural gas and propane used on-farm for grain drying, heating and cooling livestock barns and greenhouses, steam flaking, and irrigation.
Conservative, Bloc, NDP, and Green MPs in attendance all voted in favour of the bill. Agriculture committee chair Kody Blois was the lone Liberal member to vote “yea” at second reading.
The ag committee will now study the bill, and decide whether to send it back to the House of Commons for third and final reading.
A similar bill, Bill C-206, was passed by the House of Commons last summer, but was not fully approved by the Senate prior to Parliament being dissolved for the October 2021 election.
