It’s not just a carbon tax that irks Danny Penner about the current Progressive Conservative government.
Penner, who farms near Altona, is unhappy the government elected a year ago after almost 17 years of NDP rule, hasn’t removed education taxes on farmland and property.
Many farmers faced a huge jump in property taxes (municipal and education) last fall, reflecting a significantly higher property assessment.
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Penner wants other unhappy Progressive Conservatives to express their concerns on a new website (www.makembgreatagain.com), in hopes it will get the government to act.
“This PC government is not listening to the ones who voted for it,” Penner posted on the site March 13. “Carbon tax could be a lot bigger than you think. It’s time education tax comes off farmland! We need this PC government to address this.”
The way Penner sees it the Progressive Conservative government isn’t conservative enough.
“We have in government right now, it seems to me, someone who wants to lean towards the left of centre to appease some people who will not vote for him (Premier Brian Pallister) anyway,” Penner told a meeting here on a carbon tax March 30.
“We need to all stand up, take our pens out and write letters to the people who matter and make the decisions that affect our communities and our farms and make them accountable for what we have done when we X’ed their names on that box in the last election.”
Penner said a Manitoba government survey on helping the environment angered him.
“It was completely lambasting agriculture for its part in how poorly we are treating the environment,” he said.
“We need to make sure we take the time — write letters, make phone calls, make our views known. Take the time to go on the website that was created… the government is watching and it is paying attention.”
