Bill C-234 will face a pivotal vote in the Senate on Tuesday afternoon.
The bill, designed to remove the federal carbon tax from natural gas and propane used on farms, received final approval from MPs in the House of Commons in March. However, it was amended by the Senate’s agriculture committee last month, as senators aligned with the Liberal government passed a motion to remove farm buildings, including barns, from the proposed exemption.
The Senate is now slated to vote on whether to accept this amended version of the bill at around 5:30pm eastern on Nov. 7.
Dozens of farm groups and thousands of individual farmers are calling on senators to reject the amended version, as accepting it would send the bill back to the House of Commons, where the government could delay it, including any exemption for grain drying, until the bill would die when a federal election is called.
If the majority of senators vote against the amended bill, the original version, as proposed by Ontario MP Ben Lobb in February 2022, could move ahead for third and final reading in the Senate.
The latter scenario nearly happened on Thursday when the Senate speaker called for a voice vote on the bill. The speaker indicated the “nays” took the vote, but seeing the outcome, the government’s liaison in the Senate asked the speaker to defer the vote until the Senate’s next sitting, which is on Tuesday.
Related:
Farm groups urge senators to reject any amendments to Bill C-234
Bill C-234 could be in trouble if Senate doesn’t reject its own ag committee’s amendments
