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Bill S-230

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First Session, Forty-fifth Parliament,

3 Charles III, 2025

SENATE OF CANADA

BILL S-230
An Act respecting the development of a national strategy for soil health protection, conservation and enhancement
FIRST READING, June 10, 2025

THE HONOURABLE SENATOR BLACK
4512411


SUMMARY

This enactment requires the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food to develop a national strategy to support and promote efforts across Canada to protect, conserve and enhance the health of soil. It also provides for reporting requirements in relation to the strategy.

Available on the Senate of Canada website at the following address:
www.sencanada.ca/en


1st Session, 45th Parliament,

3 Charles III, 2025

SENATE OF CANADA

BILL S-230

An Act respecting the development of a national strategy for soil health protection, conservation and enhancement

Preamble

Whereas, on June 6, 2024, the Standing Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry tabled a report on the status of soil health in Canada and made 25 recommendations to the Government of Canada to protect and conserve soil health;

Whereas a need exists for a National Advocate for Soil Health to raise public awareness of the critical role soil plays in supporting food security and, therefore, social, economic and political stability;

Whereas soil health is essential to maintaining healthy ecosystems and to meeting global challenges, including climate change;

Whereas Canada is losing prime agricultural farmland across the country for a variety of reasons, including soil degradation, contamination and non-agricultural development;

Whereas agricultural practices are capable of restoring ecosystem processes, including water, biological, nutrient and energy cycling, thereby improving soil health and creating optimal growing conditions for food, fibre and fuel from biomass;

Whereas proactive soil management practices can sequester carbon and improve soil health, soil stability and water use efficiency while also reducing soil degradation;

Whereas Canada is a member of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), which states that 33% of the Earth’s soils are already degraded and over 90% could become degraded by 2050;

Whereas the FAO, in 2015, adopted the Revised World Soil Charter, which calls on national governments to adopt measures related to soil health and conservation;

Whereas climate change is causing shifting global weather patterns and bringing unseasonably high precipitation levels and more frequent droughts, thus requiring more robust solutions from agricultural producers;

Whereas the Government of Canada is committed to raising public awareness of the importance of improving and sustaining soil health and, through the Canadian Agricultural Partnership, to helping farmers adapt to climate change and conserve water and soil;

And whereas the Parliament of Canada recognizes that developing a national strategy on protecting, conserving and enhancing soil health requires the collaboration of all provinces and territories, of all levels of government and of Indigenous communities;

Now, therefore, His Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows:

Short Title

Short title

1 This Act may be cited as the National Strategy for Soil Health Act.

Interpretation

Definitions

2 The following definitions apply in this Act.

Indigenous governing body means a council, government or other entity that is authorized to act on behalf of an Indigenous group, community or people that holds rights recognized and affirmed by section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982.‍ (corps dirigeant autochtone)

Minister means the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food. (ministre)

National Strategy — Soil Health Protection, Conservation and Enhancement

Development of national strategy

3 (1) The Minister must develop, in collaboration with the Minister of the Environment, the Minister of Health, the Minister of Indigenous Services, the Minister of Natural Resources and any other relevant Ministers, a national strategy to support and promote efforts across Canada to protect, conserve, and enhance soil health, including with a view to achieving resilient and healthy soils across Canada.

Collaboration with other levels of government

(2) The Minister must provide representatives of provincial governments responsible for agriculture and agri-food, Indigenous governing bodies and municipal governments with an opportunity to collaborate in the development of the national strategy.

Public consultation

(3) In developing the national strategy, the Minister must also engage in a public consultation process with

  • (a) stakeholders, including representatives of agricultural industry and organizations; and

  • (b) any interested persons.

Content — policy and legislative measures

4 (1) The national strategy must identify policy and legislative measures, including measures to

  • (a) recognize soil as a strategic national asset and as a resource that is essential to domestic and international food security; and

  • (b) protect, conserve and enhance the capacity of soils across Canada to produce food, fibre and fuel in a manner that is both sustainable and profitable.

Content — knowledge improvement measures

(2) The national strategy must provide for measures to improve knowledge, including measures to facilitate

  • (a) the analysis of the status of Canada’s soils, including in respect of degradation, structure, compaction, available nutrients, productivity, soil contamination and soil ecology, as well as stable carbon; and

  • (b) the gathering of data and the monitoring of indicators on soil health, including in respect of carbon content and sequestration potential, the establishment of water-stable soil aggregation and available water-holding capacity.

Content — education and information measures

(3) The national strategy must provide for measures to support education and training and the sharing of information, including measures to

  • (a) encourage use of effective management practices, including through

    • (i) research programs that help to develop and apply sustainable soil practices,

    • (ii) education and training in soil health for agricultural producers and professionals,

    • (iii) knowledge transfer and technical assistance to agricultural producers and soil health managers, and

    • (iv) Indigenous stewardship and conservation practices and Indigenous knowledge of the soil;

  • (b) promote the sharing of information with all Canadians on the importance of healthy soil and the direct impact it has on their lives; and

  • (c) improve communication and sharing of soil knowledge, including through the development of a national soil information system.

Content — National Advocate for Soil Health, targets, timelines and resources

(4) The national strategy must also include recommendations related to

  • (a) the appointment of a National Advocate for Soil Health; and

  • (b) the development of appropriate targets, associated timelines and the resources necessary for soil health protection, conservation and enhancement.

Reports to Parliament

Tabling of national strategy

5 (1) Within two years after the day on which this Act comes into force, the Minister must prepare a report setting out the national strategy and must cause it to be tabled in each House of Parliament on any of the first 15 days on which that House is sitting after it is completed.

Publication

(2) The Minister must publish the report on the Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food website within 10 days after the day on which it is tabled in Parliament.

Review and report

6 (1) Within three years after the report referred to in section 5 has been tabled in both Houses of Parliament, and every three years after that, the Minister must, in collaboration with the parties referred to in subsections 3(1) and (2), prepare a report setting out

  • (a) the measures from the national strategy that have been implemented and the effectiveness of these measures;

  • (b) with respect to any measures included in the national strategy that have not been implemented, the reasons why they have not been implemented and the timeline for doing so; and

  • (c) any updates, other conclusions or recommendations about the strategy.

Tabling

(2) The Minister must cause this report to be tabled in each House of Parliament on any of the first 15 days on which that House is sitting after the report is completed.

Publication

(3) The Minister must publish the report and subsequent reports on the Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food website within 10 days after the day on which it is tabled in Parliament.

Published under authority of the Senate of Canada

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