It’s time to talk about ‘ag-gag’ legislation

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 27/02/2021 (2027 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

CHICKEN and pork will be topics of considerable interest as the Manitoba legislature reconvenes on Wednesday, and we’re not referring to the luncheon-menu selections of MLAs and government staff.

It’s expected the legislative sitting will finally end a four-month wait and let Manitobans see the contents of proposed agriculture-industry legislation commonly referred to as “ag-gag.” Such laws already exist in three Canadian provinces, where they have drawn controversy.

In Ontario, Alberta and Prince Edward Island, “ag-gag” laws aim to protect agricultural producers from two adversaries: undercover whistleblowers and on-site protesters. Whether this legislative protection is a good thing depends on which side of the farm fence you stand.

Understandably, farmers raising both livestock and crops are vigilant about protecting their land from intruders who might spread disease. Financial calamity can result if trespassers — perhaps they have infectious mud on their boots or the tires of their vehicles — contaminate canola crops with an outbreak of blackleg, or devastate a hog operation with porcine epidemic diarrhea virus.

For farmers bent on biosecurity, it’s nothing short of a nightmare that 60 animal activists occupied the inside of a hog operation in Abbotsford, B.C., in 2019, an event that was followed by similar occupations in Alberta, Ontario and Quebec.

In Manitoba, such farmers, and the many people who depend on spin-off industries tied to agriculture, are counting on the proposed “ag-gag” law to help protect their livelihoods. Voters in rural Manitoba ridings traditionally support Progressive Conservative governments, and they hope Brian Pallister will have their backs on this one.

But this legislation won’t pass without public discussion that is likely to get emotional and loud. The people who protested such bills in other provinces say “ag-gag” laws squelch free speech by stopping whistleblowers, journalists and animal-rights groups from exposing the barbaric treatment of animals.

Groups such as Humane Society International say Canada has some of the worst animal protection laws in the western world when it comes to the way animals are raised.

There are abundant online videos of factory-farm atrocities that are sickening to watch. Let one example suffice: an undercover investigation filmed in Manitoba in 2013 by investigators from the non-profit Mercy for Animals Canada showed pregnant pigs confined in barren crates so small the animals were unable to turn around; other footage depicted some male piglets being castrated without anesthetic and other piglets being slammed to the floor by staff.

Why has it taken more than four months to see the contents of Manitoba’s “ag-gag” bill? On Nov. 2, the government gave first reading to the proposed legislation as part of a blitz of 23 bills on many different matters. The PCs blame the Liberals for refusing the unanimous consent needed to disclose the details of bills.

“The government sought approval in the legislature to allow government bills to be published in January and February. The Liberal leader denied that leave from happening,” Kelvin Goertzen, minister of legislative and public affairs, told me this week. “As a result, under our legislative rules, bills can only be distributed beginning March 3 and they will begin to be distributed then. The bills will be publicly accessible once each bill is distributed when the legislature returns.”

When the public finally sees the contents of Manitoba’s proposed legislation, here’s what some of us will look for:

If it prohibits protesters from trespassing on farms and threatening the biosecurity of these businesses, that seems reasonable. Living with COVID-19 has inclined Manitobans to be more cautious of contagion. The past year has taught us it takes extreme vigilance to keep viruses from spreading.

Even people who approve of trespassing restrictions, however, will want to know how the new legislation is different from the current laws that already block intruders from farms. Perhaps the government wants to strengthen such laws and introduce harsher penalties.

But if the forthcoming legislation also prohibits whistleblowing by people who are lawfully inside agrifood operations, such as employees, it’s going too far. Way too far. It would clearly violate the Charter-protected right to freedom of expression, and should be speedily overturned by legal challenge, as many “ag-gag” laws in the U.S. have been.

Those of us who enjoy meat on our plate need to be reminded of the grim, often criminal, brutality to which some animals are subjected. When we know how our meat is produced, we’re more inclined to support better government oversight of the industry.

What we must resist with vigour is legislation that protects meat-industry miscreants who have something to hide.

carl.degurse@freepress.mb.ca

Carl DeGurse is a member of the Free Press editorial board.