Large-scale hog barn developers in Manitoba have lost another fight.
Following a byelection in the Rural Municipality of Piney, three of the
RM’s five council members now oppose intensive livestock operations,
making it harder for hog barn promoters to get new projects approved
there.
While this slows development in only one RM, Manitoba Pork chair Marcel
Hacault said it is part of a worrisome trend in rural Manitoba.
“More and more the municipalities seem to be infringing on what we
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thought was our right to have some choice in how we make our living,”
Hacault said.
“What kind of precedent does this set for other business developments?”
Fred Tait, an anti-hog barn activist with Hogwatch Manitoba, said the
results in Piney prove that rural sentiment is moving against intensive
livestock operations.
“A lot of people were saying that this was just a vocal minority (in
Piney), but you can’t argue with the results of an election,” said Tait.
Rural residents in many RMs are skeptical of large hog barn complexes
and are getting faster at blocking them, he said.
“It’s becoming widespread,” he said. “Communities now seem to be able
to organize themselves overnight.”
Tait said the Piney controversy, which arose over a proposed hog barn
and led to the resignation of three councillors including the reeve,
was not just a local situation. It is reflected in other municipalities
where people are skeptical about the benefits of large scale hog barns
and suspicious that they might be environmentally dangerous.
Tait said many people don’t believe what hog barn promoters say about
the safety of the operations, and they aren’t pacified by government
assurances that all projects are carefully analyzed by the provincial
environment department.
“People feel betrayed,” said Tait.
Some barn developers have cast envious eyes at Alberta’s hog barn
approval process, which leaves less power in municipal hands and gives
the provincial government more say.
But Manitoba agriculture minister Rosann Wowchuk said she has no plans
to remove the municipalities’ right to say no.
“We respect municipal councillors as elected bodies,” said Wowchuk.
“Ultimately, the municipalities are elected bodies and they have to
make the final decisions.”
But Wowchuk said her department is trying to streamline the process for
approving hog barn projects by clarifying the roles of the two levels
of government.
Municipalities are supposed to be in charge of determining land use
rules, while the province is supposed to concentrate on giving or
denying environmental approvals.
But Wowchuk said many municipalities still don’t have land-use plans,
and that complicates the situation when a project is proposed.
“Our government continues to encourage municipalities to work in that
direction so that they have good plans in place so that industry and
agriculture can be included in the whole scheme of things,” she said.
Fights like the one in Piney draw attention to hog barn conflicts, but
Wowchuk said the industry is still developing.
“It’s a frustrating process that we have right now, but … there’s
pretty healthy growth.”
