You have probably seen the videos of dutch farmers protesting in the Netherlands. In fact protests have erupted all across Europe.
The Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte wants to severely limit the amount of nitrogen their farmers can emit, among other unnecessary and unfair rules.
Highways have been blocked, capitals have been filled with protestors riding tractors and other farm equipment.
Canadians have been watching it unfold from a distance, but now, our own Prime Minister Trudeau, perhaps feeling a bit of FOMO (fear of missing out), wants to do the same thing here in Canada.
As part of their overall eco-agenda, the Liberal Government wants to reduce the amount of nitrous oxide emissions in Canada. The government claims it has nothing to do with going after farmers or the food they produce, but the only way to reduce nitrogen emissions is for farmers to cut back on their fertilizer use.
In case these politicians forgot Agriculture 101: nitrogen is the main ingredient in fertilizer, its plant food. It’s what helps our farmers grow crops, and get the most food out of each plant they grow.
If you limit fertilizer use, the yield on crops goes way down.
Further, in case these politicians also forgot Economics 101: if you reduce supply, while demand remains unchanged or goes up – you end up with food skyrocketing in price, and people who can’t afford to buy that now expensive food go hungry or worse. They starve.
You’d think going after the people who produce our food would be a really bad idea that no one slipping in the polls would touch with a 10-foot pole, but here we are.
Mind you, the prime minister fighting against major sectors of our economy is nothing new. He’s been doing it for most of his time in Ottawa.
We all know of his outright dislike for Alberta and our country’s best-in-the-world energy sector. Even now, while Trudeau goes and tells Germany we’re upping production to help them with their energy crisis, he turns around and tells Canadians he’s planning on enforcing new unfair emissions caps which will hamper that very production.
Now he has his sights on Canada’s farmers.
We’re already being warned about food shortages because of the war in Ukraine. Wheat will be in shorter supply coming up.
We’re the 5th largest exporter of food to the world, imagine doing anything to damage that? The government’s plan would harm the bountiful harvest Canada’s farmers produce, and will guarantee a lot of hungry people in the months and years to come should the government move forward with its latest climate scheme.
It could also end up costing Canadian farmers nearly $50 billion.
Our farmers use the best technologies, the best techniques, and the most efficient systems to create the food that feeds Canadians, along with much of the world.
Why our government wants to ban or severely reduce fertilizer use is almost unfathomable. It appears to be a combination of Trudeau wanting to be seen as cool by European politicians, as well as his commitment to a radical eco-ideology which ignores the realities and needs of everyday people who need affordable food, among other things, to live day-to-day.
Polling shows that some 50% of Canadians are already struggling to put food on the table. Food banks are stretched thin. And many are having to skip meals to ensure they can afford to pay their bills.
This attack on our farmers is unfair, uncalled for, and goes against all common sense.
Our farmers feed our cities, our families, our children. Doing anything to make their job harder is harmful and wrong.
The Prime Minister needs to leave our farmers alone and let them do their job – a job they already do exceptionally well.
If he doesn’t, I think we could expect similar tractor-laden protests to come knocking on Trudeau’s door in short order.
