OTTAWA — Prairie Liberal MPs are lobbying their government to use its clout to help build a grain processing industry on the Prairies.
David Iftody (Provencher), chair of the Liberal rural caucus, said last week the way to fight American grain protectionism is to process more grain on the Prairies for export in products like pasta and meat.
A group of southern Manitoba farmers is trying to raise the money to start a pasta plant in Altona.
“That is the kind of project the government should be supporting, with funding if necessary,” said Iftody.
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“I think it would be an ideal role for Western Diversification. I plan to make that point with (diversification minister) Lloyd Axworthy.”
The prairie caucus supports the concept of government activism to reduce the amount of raw grain shipped south in favor of higher-value products, he said.
“The message I am getting from my colleagues is that we should beat the Americans at their own game.
Send pasta, not grain
“They don’t like our wheat going down there to their pasta plants. Let’s send down our pasta.”
Iftody, formerly a management consultant, was speaking after Liberal MPs met for a day of political pulse-taking. It included lots of talk about voter reaction to the Canada-U.S. wheat deal.
Rather than criticize their own government, the Liberal MPs have decided to push an old idea — prairie diversification.
He said small-scale processing plants should be created in an investor/government partnership to service high-priced niche markets in the U.S.
“I think the position of the rural caucus members is that whether it is ethanol, pasta or meat, we should be emphasizing secondary processing and the export of high-value products that won’t attract so much political attention in the States.”
