By Connor Lynch
OTTAWA — Ontario will not exempt on-farm fuel from the carbon dioxide tax, despite a recently announced federal plan to do just that.
The federal government will be following British Columbia’s carbon pricing plan, which includes exemptions for on-farm fuels and the greenhouse industry. Alberta also exempts on-farm fuels from the carbon dioxide tax.
The federal system only applies to provinces that have their own carbon pricing system. “Provinces that implement their own carbon pricing systems will have the flexibility to create a system that works for them. They will have discretion about how to treat on-farm fuel,” Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada spokesperson Patrick Girard told Farmers Forum.
The Ontario government has opted not to exempt on-farm fuels from what has been called a cap-and-trade system. “Under the current rules of the cap-and-trade program, petroleum fuel suppliers that sell 200 litres of fuel or more are obligated to purchase allowances/credits for the emissions from the fuel they sell. There is no exemption for coloured (on-farm) diesel,” Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change spokesperson Gary Wheeler said.
The federal government announced earlier this year that provinces need to have a carbon pricing system by 2018, or the federal government’s system will apply. Ontario’s system came into place on Jan. 1 of this year.
