A united voice of farm families will be amplified by provincial politicians when they next demand federal aid for the farm income crisis, say members of Manitoba’s standing committee on agriculture.
After the committee wrapped up its province-wide hearings about the farm crisis May 1, MLAs said everyone they heard from agrees on the source of the problem and all agree the federal government needs to provide more support.
Manitoba’s legislature has called for at least $500 million more in emergency farm aid for this year.
“We heard a lot of touching stories. We also heard a lot of good analysis about what the problem is,” said Dauphin-Roblin MLA Stan Struthers, the NDP politician who chaired the committee. “Much of it reinforced what we already knew.”
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Struthers said that didn’t mean that the hearings were a waste of time.
“This gives us a rare focus. It elevated the debate.”
Struthers said legislative committees rarely travel beyond the legislature itself, so sending MLAs to tour the countryside ensured they know what rural
Manitobans are saying.
Emerson MLA Jack Penner said Manitoba’s political parties are more united than ever in their desire for emergency federal aid.
“We’ve always agreed, in all parties, that our producers could not be left in a position where they were non-competitive,” said Penner.
“Action must be taken from time to time to support them.”
Penner said working with competing provincial political parties is easier when there’s an outside foe, such as Ottawa, but he thinks the severity of farm financial problems has brought representatives together.
“I think the urgency of this demands co-operation,” said Penner.
Struthers said farm families don’t want to hear provincial politicians squabbling. They want action.
“Any time (during the hearings) there was even a hint that someone was being partisan, the crowd let them know that wasn’t right,” said Struthers.
“They told us: This is too important a problem for politicians to be playing games with.”
The committee must now present a report to the legislature summing up the presentations and any conclusions reached.
