Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to be here tonight to address some of the concerns raised by my friend opposite.

This is probably a point of order for later, but there was nothing about leafcutter bees in the member's question. If there happened to be something about leafcutter bees in April when he originally asked the question, I am sure the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food would have loved to be here tonight to address it. I have not prepared a detailed statement on leafcutter bees. My apologies to my friend opposite, but I will address the carbon price.

I would like to thank my friend from Bow River for the opportunity to speak on that particular topic. To be thorough, I have prepared a record of speeches I have given on the subject of global inflation and carbon pricing in the last five months. It includes 14 speeches in 2022 since September, one two weeks ago and one two days ago. I can make those 16 speeches available to him, and he can follow up with me if he has any further questions on that topic.

I think it is important for my friend's constituents to know that even though his Conservative Party refused to pass a resolution acknowledging that climate change is real, he in fact did campaign for a price on pollution in the last election. Unlike our government's plan, which is revenue-neutral, fights climate change, supports farmers and makes life more affordable for eight out of 10 Canadian families, his plan actually costs more, does less and forces all Canadians to adopt a government-controlled bank account allowing his Conservative Party to dictate what someone can or cannot spend their money on. I know that sounds outrageous, but it is very real. I encourage all residents in Bow River to look it up.

Inflation is also real, and it is important that we take action to reduce it. My friend probably wants everyone to think that the main cause of inflation is our price on pollution, but that does not really pass the smell test. In British Columbia, we have had a price on pollution since 2008, but there was no record inflation between 2008 and 2021. In fact, if we look at B.C. generally, not only were we the first province to implement a price on pollution, but we had the fastest-growing economy in the country at the same time. Part of that story is the fact that clean tech companies, including in agriculture, are disproportionately located in British Columbia, generating tens of thousands of good, sustainable jobs and generating billions of dollars in annual revenue.

A September 2020 report on the economic impact of the agriculture sector in B.C. showed that farm cash receipts from 2015 to 2018 actually increased 4% annually and 12% in 2019. That is more than $3.8 billion per year in revenue for farms. The same report highlighted improved trade agreements made by our government as a significant opportunity to improve profits and grow employment in the agricultural sector. That same report, ironically given the context of tonight's debate, also listed climate change as the number one threat to farmers.

The member opposite ignores the fact that we have exempted gas and diesel for farm use from our backstop pollution price, which accounts for nearly 97% of on-farm GHG emissions. We also return the proceeds of the price on pollution to farmers, something the Conservatives actually voted against. That measure has returned more than $120 million to farmers in the last year alone. We have also invested $1.5 billion to support farmers' efforts to reduce GHG emissions, and we have tripled the size of the agricultural clean technology program, with a further investment of $329 million in the last budget.

Farmers need a real plan to fight climate change and to grow farm profits, and that is exactly what our government is doing. The problem with ignoring the facts or making improper assumptions is that it usually forces people to make bad policy decision. I suspect that is what is happening within the Conservative caucus, and the official opposition continues to put forward reckless policy as a result.

Terry Beech

$521,767.00