GARY DOER
Gary Doer, the New Democratic Party premier since 1999, thinks his government’s record will help it win farmer votes in this election.
“Look at what we’ve done and look where we’re going,” said Doer in an interview during a visit to Fisher Branch.
Doer pointed to his assault on the education portion of property taxes. During his time in power, the province has moved to refunding 65 percent of the tax and will increase that to 80 percent in the next four years if re-elected.
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“We’ve moved faster on education tax for farmers than any province in the last 10 years.”
He also said his government has aggressively promoted wind power and biofuel development, both of which benefit farmers.
But he thinks the strongest reason for farmers to vote NDP, and the issue that divides his government from the Progressive Conservatives, is support for the Canadian Wheat Board.
Doer and agriculture minister Rosann Wowchuk have fought the federal government’s campaign to end the wheat board’s single desk and can be counted on to continue that fight, he said.
“Do you want a wishy-washy Tory leader who’s from south Winnipeg who doesn’t have a caucus that’s solidly behind the single desk position of Manitoba producers? Do you want an Alberta-centric position?”
Doer said it is too early to describe his government’s policy on expanding cow slaughter capacity in the province as a failure.
“Stay tuned,” he said.
And he thinks hog farmers, while upset with the moratorium on new barn construction, will eventually benefit from today’s scrutiny by the Clean Environment Commission, which should reassure the public.
Overall, he thinks his government’s record might win over farmers who might instinctively vote Conservative.
“We’ve done better on taxation. We’ve done better on energy. We’ve got a history to overcome – a lot of Tories are still dining out on John Diefenbaker’s successful ag policy – but we think modern day Tories are closer to brokers than they are to farmers.”
JON GERRARD
Jon Gerrard, the provincial Liberal leader and a former federal cabinet minister, says his party shouldn’t be written off as an “also-ran,” even though it has no seats in rural Manitoba.
“There’s a bit more of an opening than there was,” said Gerrard.
That’s because many farmers are fed up with what he considers failed NDP farm policies, and because the Progressive Conservatives have taken the wrong side in crucial issues.
Gerrard said the NDP government should not have imposed phosphorus regulations on farmers without testing them. A Liberal government would establish pilot phosphorus control areas and see what works and what doesn’t.
“I think we need to see what works first,” said Gerrard.
He would also embrace and take province-wide the Alternative Land Use Services program that Keystone Agricultural Producers developed, something he said the NDP has been slow to do.
“Our approach is a balanced approach,” he said.
Cow slaughter plans, like the Rancher’s Choice approach, failed because the NDP government tried to impose from above what should have come from below, Gerrard said.
And he said the hog barn moratorium was a bad idea and farmers are angry about it.
Gerrard thinks recent Tory missteps will bring him support.
The Conservatives have been lukewarm on supporting the CWB monopoly, and party leader Hugh McFadyen has suggested he would use government money to try to lure a National Hockey League team to Winnipeg.
“Farmers probably aren’t interested in subsidizing an NHL franchise for the city of Winnipeg,” Gerrard said.
There’s no reason the Liberals couldn’t become the voice for rural Manitoba, Gerrard said. There have been decades in which the party represented farmers’ views in the legislature.
“My approach is to be persistent and get out to rural Manitoba,” he said.
HUGH MCFADYEN
Progressive Conservative leader Hugh McFadyen thinks the timing of this provincial election shows how much the NDP premier Gary Doer cares about farmers.
“The fact that he called an election during seeding is one more piece of evidence that he’s not sensitive to rural Manitoba,” said McFadyen.
He hopes that lack of attention to farmers will prompt most farmers to vote Conservative, and allow his party to pick up the remaining seats of rural Manitoba.
“We are the party that has been in the corner for farmers on every major issue,” he said. “We’ve been the voice of rural Manitoba.
McFadyen said the NDP was slow to act on BSE, fumbled the cow slaughter issue by imposing a “cattle tax” and disrupted the hog industry with a surprise moratorium with no end date.
And it has allowed the highways and roads of bustling southern Manitoba to disintegrate while channeling money to the cities.
McFadyen said a Tory government would eliminate the education portion of property tax within two years of being elected, which is more than Doer is promising.
His party was not off-side with farmers on the wheat board issue, he added. The Conservatives complained about the expense of the provincial plebiscite and have squabbled internally about whether to support or fight the CWB monopoly.
“We have to respect the decision that farmers made on that issue (in the barley plebiscite). It’s not being pro- or anti-wheat board. It’s being pro farmer, pro democracy, on that issue.”
McFadyen said with a more responsive government like he can offer, farmers’ challenges can lead to a better future.
“We’re bullish about the future of farming, but we clearly need a government that’s going to support it and be in the corner for producers.”
