Provincial election candidates debate agricultural issues

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This article was published 12/09/2023 (770 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

With important issues like sustainable production practices, water management and education tax rebates, Manitoba’s agricultural sector has a lot riding on the Oct. 3 election

And with 14,500 farms from which primary producers generated $9.73 billion in farm income and another 35,000 people who work in the food processing industry, it has the ability to put a little heft behind its asks.

At an agricultural candidates forum on Tuesday organized by Manitoba Farm Writers and Broadcasters Association, Progressive Conservative Agricultural Minister Derek Johnson, the incumbent candidate for the riding of Interlake-Gimli, said his government will continue to reduce the education property tax in addition to the 50 per cent his government has already rolled back.

Diljeet Brar, the NDP MLA for the Burrows riding and his party’s agriculture critic, said his party would stop the education tax rollback, but leave it as is.

The Tories announced earlier in the day that a new PC government would make permanent its 50 per cent reduction in crown land rents — implemented after the drought of 2019 — and triple the funding for veterinary services in rural communities. The two measures combined would cost about $3 million per year.

In a release earlier in the day, the PC party also said it is “committed to fighting the federal government” on compensation for improvements made to leased land subsequently claimed through Treaty Land Entitlement.

During the forum, moderated by Ed White of The Western Producer, Brar got in a couple of jabs about how an NDP government would work with the federal government and others around the table, rather than “fighting” the federal government.

As well a party official said, “Heather Stefanson’s PCs lied to Manitobans before the 2019 election. Instead of making life better for ranchers and producers, they raised rents on crown land leases by over 300 per cent and cut unit transfers. It’s difficult to take the PCs seriously on this issue after the years of damage they have done and when they only now pretend to care about this issue before an election.”

Johnson took exception to that characterization, saying Crown land rents are tied to the price of beef and as the price of beef goes up, so would the cost of Crown land rents.

As far as the current Tory government’s reputation for being disagreeable with the Trudeau government in Ottawa, Johnson said, “I take pride in fighting for producers and if we have to bring these issues up with the federal government and keep reminding them over and over again of their importance we will absolutely do that.”

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Just as Brar brought up the Tories record, for instance on increasing crown land leases, Johnson reminded people of the former NDP government’s moratorium on hog barn expansion.

Asked if a NDP government might chose to do something like that again, Brar, who formerly worked for Manitoba Agriculture, said, “Our agricultural industry is an important part of our economy. It contributes a lot to the province. We need to keep producing food in a sustainable manner. We have science and technology and the latest research methods to produce more food with less inputs or with new technology.”

Joey Dearborn, a spokesperson for Manitoba Pork, said there have been no signals that any party would revert to any previous policies curtailing growth in the pork sector, but he said the organization “remains vigilant” regarding such matters.

Janine Gibson, the leader of the Green Party of Manitoba and candidate in the Wolseley riding — and a former national president of Canadian Organic Growers — and Neil Stewart, Liberal candidate for the riding of Lakeside, also participated in the forum.

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca