Jack Penner faces a conundrum in his new job as watchdog over the new Manitoba government’s agricultural policies.
“I’m a relatively positive person,” said Penner, who was named the Tory agriculture critic last week.
While most opposition critics are known for their propensity to heap scorn upon the government of the day, Penner wants to find a way to hold government accountable without being negative.
Penner is well-known in Manitoba farm politics.
He was first elected in 1988 in the southern Manitoba riding of Emerson, after serving as the first president of Keystone Agricultural Producers, a lobby group he helped form.
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Penner has an extensive background in agriculture trade and export issues.
“This is something that I’m very familiar with, that I’m very comfortable with.”
Penner would have relished taking the helm of the province’s agriculture policy as agriculture minister. But he never got the chance.
When he was first elected, he said he was “too close” to the agriculture portfolio to be considered as ministerial material.
“The expectations would have been undeliverable,” he explained.
Penner was minister of natural resources in 1988, before heading up a newly created rural development portfolio from 1989 to 1991. More recently, he has had a relatively low profile in the government backbenches, emerging last term to head up a task force on adding value to agricultural products.
This is his first time sitting in
opposition.
Penner, whose sons now run the family farm at Halbstadt, Man., said his first concern as critic will be making sure governments support farmers struggling with low commodity prices.
“What I hear from the young farming community concerns me greatly.”
He believes the federal government must do more to help farmers because governments in the United States and Europe are putting more money into supporting their farmers.
That’s a “delicate line” to walk as a politician who generally believes the free market system serves farmers well, Penner admitted.
NDP agriculture minister Rosann Wowchuk must work not only with farmers, but also processors, which may be a challenge for her government, he predicted.
Penner said he will also keep an eye on a promise Wowchuk made when she was agriculture critic to bring back orderly marketing for hogs. He would not support a return to the selling monopoly for hogs, which his government disbanded to attract processors like Maple Leaf, unless farmers demonstrate they want it back.
Other shadow cabinet positions announced by the Tories include:
- Natural resources – Harry Enns, former agriculture minister.
- Transportation – Glen Cummings, former natural resources minister.
- Environment – Larry Maguire, rookie MLA, formerly president of the Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association.
