Manitoba agriculture minister Rosann Wowchuk plans to introduce hog
barn legislation and hopes for serious debates about safety nets in the
coming legislative session.
While she says that will deal with the two biggest issues facing rural
Manitoba, she also knows one factor could suddenly rearrange the
agricultural agenda.
“It depends what the weather does,” she said during an interview in her
ministerial office 10 days before the legislature’s spring sitting
begins on April 22.
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Floods, droughts and other weather crises can bring immediate demands
for government attention, Wowchuk said, so she has to be prepared for
anything.
But her priorities now are to deal with the uncertainty over expansion
of Manitoba’s hog industry, and to firm up the province’s demands for a
new federal safety net.
Farmers are already being consulted about what they want to see in a
safety net, but she expects the subject to be debated in the
legislature.
“That’s going to be a huge priority for me,” Wowchuk said. “What we
could have is a debate or questions on the kind of safety net programs
that we have, which safety nets are working and which aren’t working,
and I would hope we would have some suggestions (from MLAs) that would
be helpful for me as I go forward to negotiate.”
Wowchuk plans to tackle the thorny issue of intensive livestock
operation approvals this session.
There are many disputes across rural Manitoba about hog barn proposals.
Both opponents and proponents of large-scale hog barns say the province
needs to clarify the role of municipalities and the provincial
government in granting approvals.
Wowchuk said she intends to introduce whatever legislation is necessary
to resolve this issue during the session. She has said the government
is considering giving itself sole jurisdiction over environmental
approvals, but leaving land-use planning to local municipalities.
The government will clearly state which of the recommendations from the
15-month-old livestock stewardship report will be adopted.
Wowchuk said she doesn’t know how much debate her legislation will
provoke.
“The opposition has had very little to say on the livestock industry
and had very little to say on (the livestock stewardship report) and on
the recommendations that were put forward,” she said. “There really has
not been that much discussion at all.”
Wowchuk acknowledged that it has taken her and her department a long
time to deal with this issue, but said she wants to resolve it well.
Anti-terrorism legislation that wasn’t passed last session will also be
on the table again. That will affect farmers because there are new
regulations for aerial sprayers and for the safe storage of chemicals.
Wowchuk said she sometimes finds it frustrating spreading the word
about agriculture in a province that is 70 percent urban.
