鈥淭he Trudeau government has apparently moved on from聽their attack on the oil and gas industry and set their sights on聽Saskatchewan farmers.鈥�

A plan by Prime Minister Trudeau of Canada to combat climate聽change by reducing the use of fertilizer is under fire from provincial聽leaders and farmers who say it will reduce output, cut into farming聽income and increase food prices at grocery stores at a time when聽the nation can ill afford it.
Similar proposals in Europe have led to furious protests in the聽Netherlands and elsewhere. Canadians acting in solidarity with聽those protests took to the streets of Ottawa and other Canadian聽cities over the weekend to vent their frustrations.

In the name of combating climate change, Mr. Trudeau鈥檚 plan is to聽reduce farmers鈥� emissions of nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas, by 30聽percent by 2030. The plan is similar to the measures taken by the Dutch government.聽Dutch farmers have been told they must reduce their use of聽fertilizers by 50 percent during the same time period for many of the聽same reasons.

The Canadian federal government鈥檚 goals came up during a meeting Friday in Saskatoon of the federal minister of agriculture and agri-food, Marie Claude Bibeau, and her provincial counterparts from Alberta, Ontario and Saskatchewan. After the meeting, the provincial agriculture ministers called Mr. Trudeau鈥檚 fertilizer plan worryingly arbitrary. 

Saskatchewan鈥檚 agriculture minister, David Marit, was blunt in a press release sent to local news outlets following the meeting.
鈥淲e鈥檙e really concerned with this arbitrary goal,鈥� Mr. Marit said in the release. 鈥淭he Trudeau government has apparently moved on from their attack on the oil and gas industry and set their sights on Saskatchewan farmers.鈥�

Specifically, Canada needs to ratify the deal. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau urged legislators last week to quickly approve the new continental trade pact, but the main opposition party said it wanted to study the deal, indicating the ratification process could be slow.

Trudeau lost his legislative majority in the October election.

Ratification in Canada is expected to wrap up by April, but the passage of USMCA does not trigger a timeline for the deal to become enforceable.
All three countries need to meet their obligations, and that鈥檚 a heavy lift.

Officials in the U.S., Mexico and Canada must spend the next months working to meet all the necessary obligations outlined in the deal. That includes Mexico making sure it is prepared to protect workers鈥� union rights and that all three countries have updated their rules that govern how cars qualify for reduced tariffs.

Once the countries have completed all the required preliminary work, leaders will notify each other in an exchange of letters. The deal will enter into force about 60 days after that exchange of letters.

The three countries are aiming for the pact to go into effect this summer, but trade experts say that鈥檚 an ambitious timeline.

A former aide to the president has cautioned that the pact may not be in force until 2021.

Sources: Politico, Reuters