A bill that would exempt fuels used for heating livestock barns, greenhouses and drying grain from the carbon pricing regime has been amended to only apply to grain drying. The proposed exemption will now end after three years instead of eight.
The Senate made the changes on Dec. 5 and Dec. 11. The bill will now return to the House of Commons for MPs to accept or reject the amendments in the new year.
Conservative MP Ben Lobb’s private member’s bill originally proposed adding natural gas and propane used to heat livestock barns, greenhouses and dry grain to the list of farm fuels exempt from the federal carbon price, which already includes diesel and gasoline. It cleared the House with support from the Conservatives, NDP, Bloc Québécois, Green Party and four Liberal MPs.
But in the Senate, the bill was amended in close votes after a month of debate and delay at third reading.
The Senate’s work on Bill C-234 coincided with the federal government announcing a carbon price carveout for home heating oil, which garnered fierce criticism from federal and provincial conservative politicians. Federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre quickly adopted the bill as a key pillar of his campaign to “axe” the federal government’s carbon pricing regime.
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