Political accountability and health care are the hot button issues in Manitoba’s provincial election campaign, says Progressive Conservative opposition incumbent Larry Maguire, but he would also like to see more rural value-added processing brought to his western manitoba riding of Arthur-Virden.
“I think accountability is a big issue. We want to see some response to rural Manitoba. People are telling me that the NDP has neglected rural Manitoba and certainly the agriculture industry,” said Maguire, who farmed 4,000 acres near Hartney, Man., until 2002.
“During BSE, they were trying to force a $2 checkoff on people in the middle of a hard time. We have said that we would cancel that because the money was all being used on administration by this government anyway.”
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He was also critical of the handling of the failed Rancher’s Choice slaughter plant, saying it should have been built three years ago because most prairie plants are now running 20 percent under capacity.
Health care is a big issue, he added, with many people worried that local hospitals may not have doctors.
“Wait times are a concern because of the driving we have to do. I know one gentleman who had to wait 11 hours in the emergency room just to have his hand looked at,” Maguire said.
“Others with more serious cases had to wait for eight to nine hours in the emergency room in Winnipeg, even after they had driven three hours to get there.”
If elected, Maguire promised the Progressive Conservatives would support more value-added processing as a way to create opportunities in rural Manitoba.
He pointed to Clean Country Resources’ plan to build a 189-million-litre ethanol plant near Hartney, and the proposed biofuel plants in Waskada and Souris as examples of the need for more provincial backing for local initiatives.
“This government has not been overly supportive of those efforts. We believe that more could be done,” he said.
“Those are local markets for grain. We cannot continue to ship grain to the ports at $50 per acre for freight and handling. In western Manitoba, we’re the furthest from Vancouver and Montreal, never mind New Orleans.”
NDP candidate Bob Senff said that in his years as a high school English teacher in Virden, Man., he witnessed many of the frustrations experienced by farmers and their children.
“I also have seen the tremendous potential for wind power and ethanol and biodiesel that we have in this area, given our land space and water availability,” said Senff, who also ran as an NDP candidate in the last federal election.
“The future in Arthur-Virden is very promising, but obviously we have to have people in place to make those things happen.”
Education and health care are two of the top issues that he would work on if elected.
Senff said there needs to be more public discussion regarding the proposed Hartney ethanol plant’s use of scrubbed coal instead of natural gas for its energy needs, and its potential effect on local water supplies, considering it plans to draw from the Oak Lake aquifer.
“For the citizen of Arthur-Virden, that’s a big question mark. Obviously, we’re going to have to look at that very seriously as they proceed,” he said.
On the issue of the moratorium on hog industry expansion in the province, Senff said he gave a short presentation at the Clean Environment Commission hearings in Virden on behalf of a Grade 8-9 class that he had taught.
“They had some neat ideas. They recognized that the hog industry produces income and jobs, so they don’t want to see it totally disappear,” he said.
“But they were also wise enough to recognize that if it gets too large and out of control it can do damage to the environment.”
Last week Manitoba Liberal candidate Fred Curry was awaiting his May 8 official nomination for the Arthur-Virden race before coming out to campaign in the area. His mother had recently died, leaving him to care for his elderly father alone.
Although he lives in Winnipeg, the city land use planner decided to run for the seat because of family connections to the area.
On May 2, he was still boning up on party policy ahead of the May 22 election. He noted that if elected, the Liberals have promised to expand the Alternative Land Use Services pilot program, which pays farmers for protecting environmentally vulnerable areas, to the whole province within four years.
In a follow-up e-mail message, he wrote: “As a land use planner, I can work anywhere in the province, rural or urban, because zoning rules apply everywhere. That is my expertise. I understand the complex relationship between politicians, bureaucrats, private investors, Joe citizen and the law.”
