The Hog Watch Manitoba coalition has demanded reassurances from the provincial government that a Clean Environment Commission hearing be held to study the $120 million slaughter plant expansion J.M. Schneider Inc. is planning in Winnipeg.
The coalition, whose members range from environmentalists to the National Farmers Union, has questioned whether the province will fulfil a promise it made last December to hold such a hearing.
Hog Watch spokesperson Vicki Burns said doubts were raised after J.M. Schneider last month began hauling dirt onto the site of the planned expansion. The hog processing company does not yet have a licence from the province to begin work there.
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“I would have thought a company that wanted to get off on the right foot wouldn’t do something like this,” said Burns, who also heads the Winnipeg Humane Society.
The provincial government confirmed last week that clay fill had been hauled onto the Warman Road site in Winnipeg.
An order from the province to cease that work has been obeyed, said Richard Johns, a Manitoba Conservation environment officer.
A government spokesperson said last week the province remains committed to holding a commission hearing.
J.M. Schneider needs a licence under the province’s Environment Act before it can begin development. A licensing proposal has not yet been received from the company, the government source said.
Manitoba’s former Conservative government chose not to hold a CEC hearing before granting licences that are needed by Maple Leaf to complete its $120 million hog processing plant in Brandon. Instead, the province opted for public information meetings.
The Hog Watch coalition believes a CEC hearing allows a closer examination of developments such as the one planned by J.M. Schneider.
The coalition wants that examination extended to look at the full impact of hog industry expansion in Manitoba.
