Manitoba’s NDP government was re-elected with little support from farmers and rural areas.
But Manitoba’s most important farm organizations hope the Winnipeg-based government will support good agricultural policies.
They also hope that some of what they saw as legislative hostility to farmers in the latter days of the last government won’t carry through into the new version of the Greg Selinger regime.
“We’re always hopeful and we do want to see some issues resolved because we do want to see the industry grow and we are an important part of the economy,” said Cam Dahl, general manager of Manitoba Beef Producers.
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Farmers liked some of the promises they heard during the election campaign, including a commitment to remove the educational portion of property tax from farmland.
Keystone Agricultural Producers hopes the NDP delivers on its support of ensuring stable funding for general farm organizations.
However, in the days leading up to the election, the government introduced and passed the Save Lake Winnipeg Act, which placed regulatory controls on hog farmers and was generally seen by farm organizations as an unfair singling out of farmers as the cause of Lake Winnipeg’s problems.
The act passed easily into law with opposition party support but prompted all of Manitoba’s largest farm organizations to unite against the law.
KAP president Doug Chorney hopes the election allows the government to come back into power with a fresh view and less antagonism toward the hog industry.
“Although there’s been this regulatory approach to compliance, we think we need to work hard to make sure they understand that an incentive-based approach might be more effective to change management practices on farms,” said Chorney.
Manitoba Pork Council chair Karl Kynoch said he also thinks there’s a chance for a fresh start and more cooperative working relationships.
“The next couple of months is going to really tell us a lot,” said Kynoch.
“Hopefully going forward we can get into a better working relationship than we had in the past.”
