The Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP) had Manitoba’s new government – and how they could build relationships with that government – top of mind when the general farm group met for their fall advisory council meeting Nov. 8.
“Our team has already engaged with the NDP for the past year, and we believe that we have a strong working relationship with them,” KAP president Jill Verwey said.
The province’s new agriculture minister, Ron Kostyshyn, was invited to make comments at the meeting as well.
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“We believe that this is a great start for our relationship,” Verwey said.
While she emphasized relationship-building with the new government, she acknowledged the challenges facing KAP in that goal. There is less representation for agro-Manitoba in the province’s governing party. With the exception of Kostyshyn’s region around Dauphin, NDP MLAs stem from largely northern or urban districts. Progressive Conservative MLAs represent the majority of regions outside of Winnipeg.
“We’re aware that the new government will have fewer rural and ag voices around the table,” said Verwey. “This is something that KAP will be incorporating as we implement our new government relations strategy.”
KAP also invited the PC’s agriculture critic, Jeff Bereza, to speak at the meeting to maintain a positive relationship with both parties, said Verwey.
Other business
In addition to political representatives, the advisory council heard from a number of presenters.
Deputy Minister of Agriculture Brenda DeSerranno spoke about the province’s Sustainable Agriculture Manitoba program. The Manitoba Forage and Grassland Association had a presentation about their Aquanty water modelling tool and the University of Manitoba’s Martin Entz spoke about the goal of achieving net-zero carbon emissions on farms.
One resolution was passed. That resolved that KAP should lobby the provincial government to raise the $2-million yearly gross revenue cap for the Disaster Financial Assistance program.
See the Nov. 16 print edition of the Manitoba Co-operator for more KAP coverage.
