Canadian pledge to support Ukraine rebuild is an ‘insult’: Essex County farmers

Some Canadian farmers are feeling insulted by a recent announcement from the federal government pledging to give millions to help Ukraine.

It’s not that they don’t think the war-ravaged country needs help — far from it.

Local farmers, however, take issue with the government using $34 million in tariffs it collected this spring on Russian fertilizer imports.

“It’s almost an insult to Canadian agriculture the way they're treating it,” Leo Guilbeault told CTV News Friday from his farm near St. Joachim. “It is a big deal. $34 million added to the cost of your food is a big deal.”

Earlier this week, the Canadian government announced a plan to give Kyiv $115 million to rebuild their battered power infrastructure.

A spokesperson for Canada’s Ministry of Agriculture and Agri-food confirmed Friday, part of that will be the $34 million they collected in fertilizer imports from Russia.

“They (government of Canada) implemented tariffs on fertilizer that was already bought before the war, which we deemed really unfair,” Guilbeault said. “The ships (of Russian fertilizers) were already on their way (to Canada) before the war started.”

Guilbeault noted by the time the ships docked in Canada, importers faced a 35 per cent tariff on the Russian fertilizer.

Russia is the one of the largest suppliers of nitrogen fertilizers, according to Guilbeault and Canadian food analysts.

“Your potatoes, your tomatoes, all your meat, your bread, your cereals, your vegetables, all of it costs you $34 million more because of that, because we had to absorb all that cost,” Guilbeault said.

“It is somewhat insulting. It's like robbing Peter to pay Paul,” said Sylvain Charlebois, director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University in Halifax.

According to Charlebois, the government has “affected the ability for many farms to make money and to remain sustainable financially this year.”

What’s more, Charlebois believes the tariffs on fertilizer had no impact on Russia, because the commodity was paid for before it left the country.

“(The aid to Ukraine) will make Ottawa and Canada look good,” said Charlebois. “But when you start to look at where the money is actually coming from, it actually comes from farmers. You do wonder why this sum is being politicized in such a way.”

The spokesperson for federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau told CTV News the government does intend to give farmers back the $34 million they paid in Russian fertilizer tariffs.

She also said they are hoping to make an announcement about it soon but they are working on the logistics of repaying farmers, when the tariff was paid in the first place by the importers.

When asked by CTV News why the government chose to announce help for Ukraine before helping their own farmers, the spokesperson declined to comment.

For Guilbeault’s part, he believes Canada should help Ukraine rebuild from the war with Russia.

“But take the money out of the general funds,” said Guilbeault. “If you're gonna give money back, give it back to the farmers that paid for it so we can reduce our costs which would reduce the costs of the food in Canada.”