Standardbred Canada President and CEO, Dan Gall, along with Board Director, Maurice Stewart, of Alberta, travelled to Parliament Hill to discuss issues of concern to Standardbred Canada members.
“At the CFA (Canadian Federation of Agriculture) Lobby Day, I think we had seven different meetings between the two of us, and 42 different meetings with 10 different groups (consisting of Canadian Federation of Agriculture board directors) from across the country,” Gall said.
“We talked to government members, opposition members from both parties – NDP and Conservatives – and talked to some senators as well. It was a really good opportunity to spend time in front of the politicians.”
(Left to Right) Reint-Jan Dykstra (CFA Director), Ben Lobb (Member of Parliament, Huron and member of the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food), Dan Gall (President & CEO, SC)
Many of the discussions revolved around proposed tax reforms.
“A lot of it was clarity on the tax reforms and the need for consistency as it relates to the classification of horses being deemed farm animals rather than companion animals, and we discussed Section 31 (of the Income Tax Act) – restricted farm losses – to enhance owner investment,” said Gall.
“Overall, we are cautiously optimistic that the government heard our concerns and we were invited back by some of the politicians to provide further information as to the issue around the farm animal classification of the horse. I think they recognized the concerns about the proposed tax reforms and having all CFA directors sending the same message to government is important and needed to ensure our message was being heard.”
Standardbred Canada plans to meet with national horse associations in the future and work with the Canadian Federation of Agriculture on developing an ongoing strategy to continue to work with government.