Manitoba farmer groups were generally happy with the 2018-19 provincial budget, although the implications of the soon-to-be-imposed carbon tax hangs over their heads.
It appeared to be seen as a budget that made modest improvements in areas that affect farming, without providing big money or ambitious promises.
“We were pretty pleased with it,” said Manitoba Beef Producers chair Ben Fox.
Not only did the March 12 budget reaffirm commitment to the outlet channels designed to reduce chronic flooding around Lake Manitoba, but wildlife damage compensation is being boosted, and livestock producers continue to be praised for helping Manitoba’s development as a protein powerhouse.
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Manitoba Pork Council manager Andrew Dickson said hog farmers are happy to see a boosting of basic income tax exemption levels, not because it will directly help hog farm owners and operators much, but because it will be significant for those who work in the barns.
“That essentially gives workers in our sector a break on their taxes,” said Dickson.
“It’s not huge, but it’s good.”
Keystone Agricultural Producers is happy to see funding provided for environmental preservation and improvement and is glad the $102 million Conservation Trust Fund will be administered by the Manitoba Habitat Heritage Corp., said Keystone president Dan Mazier.
“It’s an independent overseeing of the fund,” he said.
“We asked for transparency and here it is.”
The environmental cash is part of the government’s Climate and Green Plan, which it developed as a way of dealing with climate change and the federal requirement for a carbon tax. The provincial government has created a $50 per tonne levy that roughly conforms with the federal requirement for gross amounts of money collected by a tax, but it does not follow the same steps as most other provinces.
The Manitoba tax will start and remain at the $50 level, something that might not be accepted by the federal Liberal government.
The carbon tax itself is not popular with most farmers, and most farm organizations have worked hard to get the agricultural fuel exemption the province has granted.
However, the hog industry is an extensive user of heating fuels for hog barns and there is no promise that those won’t be subject to the carbon tax.
“My understanding is that they are going to charge the carbon tax on the fuels that we use to heat our barns,” said Dickson.
Mazier highlighted how not exempting those types of energy from the tax will hit many farmers. Increasing numbers of farmers are using grain dryers, and livestock producers and greenhouse operators usually provide heat for animals during the long Manitoba winter.
“We are hopeful that the government of Manitoba doesn’t make the same mistake that British Columbia did when it introduced their carbon tax and included it on space-heating fuel,” said Mazier.
“It saw a mass exodus of investment in their greenhouse sector south into the United States.”
