Trudeau follows Netherlands, disregards provinces with new farming restrictions

Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Friday disregarded the country’s provinces as he decided to move forward with a new environmental decree to reduce nitrogen emissions from fertilizer by 30% below 2020 levels. 

According to a report by Fertilizer Canada, “a 30% absolute emission reduction for a farmer with 1000 acres of canola and 1000 acres of wheat, stands to have their profit reduced by approximately $38,000 – $40,500/ annually.” 

Trudeau’s move mirrors that of the Netherlands, whose mandate that farmers reduce their emissions by 30% to protect the environment has sparked fierce nationwide protests. Those protests have now spilled into Trudeau territory, with hundreds of Canadians demonstrating outside the Dutch embassy in Ottawa Saturday. 

The prime minister is moving ahead with his climate plan despite protestations by provincial agriculture ministers, who warn of food shortages. 

“Western Canadian farmers already produce the most sustainable agri-food products in the world, and they're continually being asked to do more with less. We cannot feed the growing world population with a reduction in fertilizer,” said the Saskatchewan and Alberta Ministers of Agriculture in a joint statement. 

"We're really concerned with this arbitrary goal," Saskatchewan Minister of Agriculture David Marit said. "The Trudeau government has apparently moved on from their attack on the oil and gas industry and set their sights on Saskatchewan farmers." 

"This has been the most expensive crop anyone has put in, following a very difficult year on the prairies," Alberta Minister of Agriculture Nate Horner said. "The world is looking for Canada to increase production and be a solution to global food shortages. The Federal government needs to display that they understand this. They owe it to our producers." 

The ministers found when they arrived at the recent three-day annual meeting with the federal government that the issue was not even up for discussion – Trudeau had already made up his mind. 

“Provinces pushed the federal government to discuss this important topic, but were disappointed to learn that the target is already set,” said the statement. “The commitment to future consultations are only to determine how to meet the target that Prime Minister Trudeau and Minister Bibeau have already unilaterally imposed on this industry, not to consult on what is achievable or attainable.” 

While Trudeau’s unilateral “climate plan” will likely cause food shortages, the prime minister has already told Canadians to expect it. 

“We’ve seen from the global pandemic to the war in Ukraine significant disruptions of supply chains around the world, which is resulting in higher prices for consumers and democracies like ours, and resulting in significant shortages and projected shortages of food and energy in places around the world,” Trudeau said in April after giving himself a raise. 

“This is going to be a difficult time,” he continued, “because of the war, because of the recovery from the pandemic. And Canadians will do what we always do: we’ll be there for each other.”