Two years have gone by since the Manitoba Conservatives dropped a bombshell on the leaseholders of this province.
How are things going out here?
Really bad.
Crown land lease bills came out, late last year, due Jan. 1. Most bills had tripled since 2019.
Calf prices are pretty rough and input costs have gone through the roof. If it wasn’t for current feed assistance programs, many ranches would be going under.
Still, there is an underlying problem that will destroy businesses and families.
Read Also
Cutting a path for reconciliation and agriculture: National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
Indigenous perspectives and farming need co-operation to move ahead as Canada works towards truth and reconciliation.
It is the loss of the unit transfer.
It may seem insignificant to some, but it will affect every ranch at some point in time.
Today there are many older ranchers who want to sell out and retire. Without the unit transfer, their ranches have become unsalable.
A viable ranch, without the Crown land, becomes, what? Perhaps a hobby farm? In Rorketon? Not likely.
The changes have broken young ranchers.
To pay their bills, many have sold their cows and are renting out their leases. Some have had to go to work off the farm. Older farmers are working themselves to death, trying to hang on until the government changes.
Investment in Manitoba has stalled. Anyone looking to buy sees Manitoba’s Crown land changes as just plain bad business. There are other places to go.
Families can still transfer their lease, but one day, someone down the line WILL lose it all.
Northern Manitoba ranches were built around Crown land. It wasn’t a gift. It was part of government policy and the leaseholders cared for the land like it was their own.
I challenge anyone who thinks the changes were a good idea, to come with me… let’s take a drive up to Crane River or maybe Waterhen or Cayer. Let’s see how rich the ranchers there have become, after living their lives here.
Let’s see how big their houses are… how much paint they have been able to afford.
These hard-working Manitobans have now been robbed, and the Manitoba government is to blame.
Shelley Dyck
Ste. Rose du Lac
