Like Daniel in the lion’s den, Manitoba water stewardship minister Steve Ashton put his faith in the law when he spoke before a room packed with hog industry opponents of his planned regulations.
He insisted in a speech to the Manitoba Chamber of Commerce that farmers were not being targeted by the new rules that are intended to improve water quality in the province’s rivers and lakes.
“We’re all part of the problem,” said Ashton, who dedicated about two minutes of a 20 minute speech to agriculture.
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“It’s not one sector or one region.”
But Ashton’s assurances did not satisfy many hog producers in the audience, who see his initiatives as blaming farmers.
“I feel targeted,” said Darcy Pauls, the general manager of Puratone Corp.’s swine division. “I don’t know exactly what they want to achieve or how they’re going to do it.”
The chamber of commerce breakfast was sponsored by Manitoba Pork Council, which has been worried about a range of new water quality rules being developed.
Puratone manager Scott Lins said his industry is already heavily regulated and doesn’t need another layer of rules to follow.
“We’re already one of the most heavily regulated industries,” said Lins. “More regulations are not the answer.”
But in his speech, Ashton said all Manitobans owe their descendants the duty of protecting water sources now, before they are too damaged to save.
“I think there are two forks in the river,” said Ashton.
One fork leads to a blame game in which governments and various sectors of society squabble over who to blame for problems and solutions.
The other fork, Ashton said, leads to co-operative work that will leave future generations with better water than today.
Ashton said the hog industry had recently expanded greatly.
“I’m convinced that with discussion, we can continue to achieve that type of sustainability. There’s not a farmer in this province who doesn’t want improved water quality.”
Pauls confronted the minister after the speech, saying the proposed provincial rules are too nebulous because they don’t clearly spell out expected results in specific areas of the province.
But Ashton said the regulations need to be flexible, so that remedial action is only taken where it is needed. There is no point imposing expectations on every piece of land if it doesn’t fit the situation, Ashton said.
The minister denied that his department’s rules target agriculture, pointing out that Winnipeg and other municipalities are having to improve their water treatment systems.
Winnipeg has complained loudly about the hundreds of millions of dollars it is forced to spend to upgrade its facilities.
Ashton didn’t offer farmers any hope that he would back away from his regulatory approach.
“If we get to the point where we don’t have all of us as part of the solution … we’ll never deal with the water quality challenges,” said Ashton.
“Agriculture is part of the solution and with the appropriate debate over the regulations … the water quality management zones are absolutely critical in the future if we are to protect Manitoba’s water quality.”
