Witness-Témoin 1, Judith Samson-French and Jennifer Woods made statements and answered questions.

At 12:04 p.m., the sitting was suspended.

At 12:11 p.m., the sitting resumed.

Jonas Watson, Kenneth Serrien and Kevin Wilson made statements and, with William Shore, answered questions.

Yves Perron gave notice of the following motion:

Considering the lack of response from Loblaws and Walmart to our last communication, and considering that the negotiated adoption of the Code of Conduct seems seriously compromised, that the committee invite the members of the provisional Board of Directors of the Code of Conduct, as well as the members of the Steering Committee for the negotiations on the Code of Conduct, to testify before the committee on the status of the situation in order to inform us accurately on the situation and to better orient the committee's potential recommendations to the government.

John Barlow moved, —

Given that:

a) Seven Provincial Premiers and 70% of Canadians oppose the government’s 23% carbon tax hike on April Fools’ Day;

b) The Premiers of Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick have issued public letters calling on the government to provide a carbon tax carve out for farmers and pass Bill C-234 in its original form;

c) The carbon tax currently costs greenhouse operators in Canada $22 million a year and will pay between $82 million and $100 million by 2030 when the carbon tax quadruples;

d) 44% of fresh fruit and vegetables growers are already selling at a loss and 77% can’t offset production cost increase;

e) The Parliamentary Budget Officer has stated the carbon tax will cost farmers nearly $1 billion by 2030;

f) The 2023 Food Price Report estimates that the carbon tax will cost a typical 5,000-acre farm $150,000 by 2030; and

g) The Food Professor recommends pausing the carbon tax for the entire food supply chain.

Debate arose thereon.