Ontario Premier Doug Ford made a surprise appearance at the Grain Farmers of Ontario March Classic meeting in London, Ont., this week.
Emerging from behind a curtain, Ford took the stage to address a convention hall full of grain growers and wasted little time addressing the issue that led many conversations at the annual industry meeting. “We’re standing shoulder to shoulder with you and urging our federal politicians to pass Bill C-234,” the Premier said.
The embattled legislation continues to languish in its revised form in the House of Commons, after Liberal-appointed Senators limited the proposed carbon tax exemption for natural gas and propane used on farms to grain drying, excluding barn heating and other on-farm applications. The Upper Chamber also reduced the minimum number of years the exemption would be in effect from eight to three.
In his remarks, Ford then went one step further, calling for the Liberal government to totally scrap the tax. “All it does is gouge people. It’s not beneficial. It hurts people,” he said. “All carbon tax schemes are absolutely awful. They take money out of people’s pockets, they increase the cost of every product you produce.”
Ford noted that his government has passed legislation to ensure no Ontario government could impose a carbon tax without holding a referendum vote on the issue.
Ontario Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie also issued a statement this week saying she would not introduce a provincial carbon tax if her party were to be elected in the provincial election slated for 2026. Her statement did not address the federal Liberals’ carbon tax.
See Ford’s remarks at the March Classic in the video below.
