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Carbon-tax exemption for farm heating survives Senate vote

A private member’s bill promising carbon tax relief for Canada’s farmers cleared a major obstacle in the Senate on Tuesday.

In a late afternoon vote, senators overwhelmingly rejected a controversial amendment to Bill C-234, a private member’s bill. The bill would amend the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act to exempt propane and natural gas from the carbon tax if it is used to dry grain or climate control in barns and livestock buildings.

The amendment, introduced during Senate committee consideration, would have removed all uses except grain drying from the bill, a move that angered the agriculture industry, which says carbon taxes are already driving up their costs.

“This is an example of where legislative government is working, that we can still work under a minority government and have some of these bills pass,” said Mushrooms Canada CEO Ryan Koeslag — one of the many agricultural organizations advocating for the bill to pass amendment-free.

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Developing disease resistance in new wheat varieties

Video: Developing disease resistance in new wheat varieties


Dr. Colin Hiebert, research scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada – Morden, is focused on developing new tools that wheat breeders can use to improve, diversify and strengthen disease resistance in new wheat varieties. This includes new genomic tools that address resistance to five diseases including: Fusarium head blight, leaf rust, stripe rust, stem rust and common bunt.

Learn more about how research conducted at AAFC-Morden will impact wheat variety development, production and profitability for the future. This research is part of the Canadian National Wheat Cluster and funding is provided through the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Alberta Grains, Sask Wheat, Manitoba Crop Alliance, Western Grains Research Foundation and Canadian Field Crop Research Alliance.