Election 2019: Supporting farmers doesn’t win votes in Winnipeg

House taxes were focus of announcement

The Progressive Conservative party’s promise to phase out education taxes on all property, including farmland, is a huge win for Manitoba farmers and the Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP), says University of Manitoba political studies professor, Christopher Adams. But the news release announcing the pledge doesn’t mention farmers at all and instead focuses on the tax


Above: Mark demonstrates his egg-packing machine.

Young farmer learning ropes of egg sector

Mark Ronald entered the Manitoba Egg Farmers’ new-entrant quota lottery

Mark Ronald became an egg farmer almost in an instant. Mark was 18, and like most newly graduated students, was considering his career path. He’d worked on the family farm near Portage la Prairie since he was a teen but was also thinking about going into the trades or maybe the Canadian Armed Forces. In

Canola and soybean prices have both taken a hit in 2019.

AGGrowth Coalition frustrated by lack of government trade aid

Presumably Canadian farmers have suffered, 
but where’s the economic analysis backing it up?

The AGGrowth Coalition “demands” the federal government provide “support for… export-oriented farmers facing significant market disruptions as a result of global trade action,” but hasn’t provided documentation of how much trade problems have hurt Canadian farmers. The coalition and others are working on that, AGGrowth co-chair and Grain Growers of Canada chair Jeff Nielsen said


A re-elected PC government aims to raise the ethanol requirement in fuel to 10 per cent from 8.5 per cent and the biodiesel requirement to five per cent from two per cent.

Election 2019: Provincial candidates give little reaction to biofuel mandate promise


Progressive Conservative pledge would more than double biodiesel level

Electoral candidates at a recent forum had little to say about the Progressive Conservative promise to increase the biofuel and ethanol requirements in Manitoba. “Certainly we’re excited for that opportunity,” said Minister of Agriculture Ralph Eichler, adding he hoped the other provinces would follow suit. Premier Brian Pallister announced on August 27 that a PC

From top left: Martha Jo Willard, Green party candidate for Notre Dame, Terry Hayward, Liberal candidate for Lac du Bonnet, Mitch Obach, NDP candidate for Selkirk, Ralph Eichler, PC minister of agriculture and MLA for Lakeside.

Election 2019: Electoral forum raises rural issues

The event saw candidates from four provincial parties duke it out over infrastructure, trade, the environment, and Crown land reform

An electoral forum on agriculture saw candidates get heated about rural infrastructure problems, and take swings at the Pallister government on trade and land reform. The Manitoba Farm Writers and Broadcasters Association on August 27 brought together candidates from the four provincial parties to answer questions from commodity groups and farmers. Agriculture Minister Ralph Eichler


High-tech tools are going to require highly skilled workers down on the farm.

New skill sets needed in farm workers of the future

Larger farms already well into technology adaptation but properly trained employees key to the future

In the not too distant future, farms will depend on high-tech workers with titles like tech-gronomist, ag tech integrator and knowledge translators, a recent conference of the Canadian Agriculture Human Resources Council (CAHRC) heard. In a presentation entitled Agriculture Skills for the Future, Stuart Cullum, president of Olds College in Alberta spelled out the kinds

PC leader Brian Pallister says a new economic development office in Brandon will cater to rural development if the party is re-elected to government.

Election 2019: Pallister promises rural economic development office

PCs say office would become new go-to resource for rural industry

Manitoba’s Progressive Con­ser­vatives say they want to streamline rural economic development and, to that end, they have promised a central office in Brandon if re-elected. The new economic development office became the latest promise on the PC campaign trail Aug. 29, during a media event in Brandon. “The office itself is not designed to just


KAP’s Bill Campbell says there’s a need to ensure rural infrastructure is part of any value-added strategy.

Election 2019: Parties promise infrastructure spending

ELECTION KAP says rural infrastructure must be renewed to allow for value-added production

Both Brian Pallister and Wab Kinew have promised renewed investment in infrastructure if elected. What remains to be seen is how this will address the rural infrastructure needs Keystone Agricultural Producers called a key election issue. “The $350-million-a-year provincial spending (on) infrastructure does not come close to dealing with the $11-billion infrastructure deficit our province

The Red River in southern Winnipeg.

Election 2019: PCs promise a million for watershed management

Project would map waterways, aid Saskatchewan cross-border drainage issues

The provincial Progressive Conservatives have promised to spend $1 million on watershed mapping and management to alleviate flooding in western Manitoba if re-elected. “Our additional investments and the steps we are announcing today will improve protection for downstream landowners and enhance watershed management on the prairies,” PC leader Brian Pallister said in a release Friday,


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