The National Farmers Union (NFU) is pleased to provide comments on the Proposed Special Review Decisions PSRD2018-01 and PSRD2018-02 regarding Risk to Aquatic Invertebrates from Clothianidin and Thiamethoxam respectively. Clothianidin and Thiamethoxam are neonicotinoid insecticides currently approved for use as seed treatment and/or foliar spray on many agricultural crops in Canada. The proposed Special Review Read more
NFU Briefs
2018
Canada’s Budget 2019 offers the opportunity to fund significant federal policy initiatives to enhance agriculture’s role as an economic driver by ensuring farm incomes and farm-created wealth are available to benefit Canadians and their communities. In our submission we outline ways the federal government can revamp programs and taxation measures to better support multifunctionality while promoting domestic production and reversing the decline in farmer numbers. Read more
() is pleased to submit input on the draft guidance document outlining the conditions for completing an Agricultural Impact Assessment (AIA), ERO number 013-2454. The is Canada’s only national direct-membership voluntary general farm organization. The in Ontario (-O) is accredited under the Farm Registration and Farm Organizations Funding Act, 1993. members believe that the problems Read more
The NFU supports Health Canada’s proposed decision to protect pollinators by changing the ways clothianidin and thiamethoxam can be used. Clothianidin and thiamethoxam are neonicotinoid insecticides which are of increasing concern due to their impacts on non-target organisms, including domestic and wild pollinators. Read more
The NFU brief focuses on the need for Bill C-49 to be amended to remove its changes to the Common Carrier obligation in the Canada Transportation Act; retain the definition of government hopper cars in the Canada Transportation Act, and other measures. Read more
2017
The NFU brief presented to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food promotes the idea that a food policy for Canada could usher in a holistic view of food and agriculture that would transform Canada’s farming, food processing and distribution system into one that makes food sovereignty a reality if the government decides to start building a food system that benefits Canadian farmers and consumers instead of accelerating down its current path which has only concentrated the power and wealth of multinational corporations and diminished the democratic space for elected governments. Read more
Le mémoire de l'UNF présenté au Comité permanent de l'agriculture et de l'agroalimentaire de la Chambre des communes favorise l'idée qu'une politique alimentaire pour le Canada pourrait donner naissance à une vision holistique de l'alimentation et de l'agriculture qui transformerait l'agriculture, le traitement des aliments et le système de distribution du Canada en un seul rend la souveraineté alimentaire une réalité si le gouvernement décide de commencer à construire un système alimentaire qui profite aux agriculteurs et aux consommateurs canadiens au lieu d'accélérer son chemin actuel qui a seulement concentré le pouvoir et la richesse des sociétés multinationales et réduit l'espace démocratique pour les gouvernements élus. Read more
Our comments provide context to the public debate around this consultation, and we examine some of the underlying issues that have heightened apprehension among farmers in regard to the proposed tax system changes. We believe many concerns were over-stated in media reports. Most family farms are not incorporated, and thus have no access to the tax planning measures under discussion. The tax planning measures would affect profits – that is, net income left after all expenses are paid, including inputs, wages and salaries – and in order to benefit from these measures, profits would need to be substantial. Most farms do not reach the approximately $200,000 year profit level that would make it worthwhile to pay the various legal and accounting fees required to benefit from the tax planning measures under discussion. Canada’s 43,457 incorporated family farms comprise only about 2.4 % of corporations that could potentially be affected by proposed changes. Most important, the $1 million lifetime capital gains exemption for farmers is not under discussion in this consultation process. Read more
The federal government’s proposal to change tax measures for private corporations is very much in the news. Unfortunately, the debate has become very heated with a lot of questionable information circulating. We have seen reporters saying these changes will make it so there is no advantage to incorporating a farm on one hand, and on the other, suggesting that they will ruin the family farm. Such statements invoke emotional reactions instead of clear-headed analysis.The following information is meant to provide useful information about the proposed changes and their larger context so that NFU members, other farmers and the general public can better assess the potential impact of the proposed changes to tax measures for private corporations, and if they wish, to provide helpful input to the federal government’s public consultation on the tax system. Read more
The NFU brief focuses on the need for Bill C-49 to be amended to remove its changes to the Common Carrier obligation in the Canada Transportation Act; retain the definition of government hopper cars in the Canada Transportation Act; add the obligation for a full costing review under the Maximum Revenue Entitlement in the Canada Transportation Act; retain the 15% maximum for any individual’s share ownership of CN Rail under the CN Commercialization Act; amend the Canada Transportation Act to reinstate the ability of a group of farmers to petition to have new producer car loading sites established; and amend Section 5 of the Canada Transportation Act to update Canada’s national transportation policy. It also notes that the reciprocal penalties provisions Bill C-49 introduces are unlikely to benefit farmers. We also call for the establishment of an independent Producer Car Reciever, which would provide a check on the power of the grain companies and the railways Read more
