A changing of the guard in the Manitoba cabinet is causing the provincial government to reconsider the implications of a proposed expansion at the Maple Leaf hog slaughter plant in Brandon.
In early November, the Manitoba Clean Environment Commission released a report on the Maple Leaf expansion and an accompanying waste water treatment plant upgrade.
The CEC report recommended that a study be conducted on the sustainability of hog production in the Assiniboine River basin. It also recommended a possible upgrade of Maple Leaf’s hog farms to an international environmental standard.
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Steve Ashton, who was Manitoba’s conservation minister when the recommendations were made public, said the government would not pursue the sustainability study in the Assiniboine River basin.
Ashton was quoted in the farm press as saying tougher manure management regulations implemented over the past few years were adequate.
Since then, the province’s new conservation minister, Stan Struthers, said he is not dismissing any of the CEC recommendations.
Struthers was named conservation minister in a Nov. 4 cabinet shuffle.
“We believe the requirements put forward by the CEC are sensible and doable,” Struthers said in a Nov. 20 interview.
And Struthers said the recommendation that Maple Leaf hog barns be required to have ISO 14001 environmental management systems warrants a look, with involvement from both the province and industry.
It was clear from the interview that Struthers will place a strong emphasis on the issues affecting water quality in Manitoba, including nutrient management on farms.
“The public expects both industry and government to adhere to high levels of standards,” he said.
Marcel Hacault, chair of the Manitoba Pork Council, accused the CEC of stepping beyond its mandate of being an arm’s length, apolitical body because it did not confine its report only to the slaughter plant and acc-ompanying waste water treatment expansion.
He said if Maple Leaf is forced to raise the environmental standards for its barns, it could follow that smaller producers would eventually be forced to do the same. That could topple many smaller producers, he said, because they are less able to absorb added costs.
The CEC is described by the province as an arm’s length provincial agency appointed under the authority of Manitoba’s Environment Act. It offers advice and recommendations to government on sustainable development, environmental issues and licensing matters.
