Manitoba’s Progressive Conservatives say they will make a 50 per cent rent reduction on forage Crown land leases permanent if they are re-elected.
The provincial government announced the reductions as a temporary measure this summer, before dropping the writ for the 2023 election. At the time, the province linked the move to production challenges faced by leaseholders due to several years of drought or spring flood. It also made other changes to the Crown lands system.
“This announcement means savings that drive down the cost of production,” said Derek Johnson, PC incumbent and provincial agriculture minister at the time, in a Sept. 13 release.
Read Also
Mazergroup’s Bob Mazer dies
Mazergroup’s Bob Mazer, who helped grow his family’s company into a string of farm equipment dealerships and the main dealer for New Holland machinery in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, died July 6 from cancer.
Why it matters: Crown lands policy is among the agricultural issues of concern as Manitoba goes to the polls Oct. 3.
The party’s rival NDP, however, said the PC announcement rings hollow.
“It’s difficult to take the PCs seriously on this issue after the years of damage they have done and when they only now pretend to care about this issue before an election,” said an NDP news release. “Heather Stefanson can’t be trusted to listen to ranchers and producers. Manitobans know they can’t trust the person who broke it to fix it.”
Agricultural Crown lands became a hot-button issue in 2019 when the program was significantly changed. Leases could be allocated by auction and the rental formula was altered to a market-based calculation. The government said this would make the process more transparent and modern.
Lease terms were initially set at 15 years. Existing “legacy” leaseholders were later given a first right of renewal after they complained that the shortened leases would impact business continuity and long-term planning. The ability to transfer a lease (unit transfer) with the sale of private property was eliminated.
The elimination of unit transfers and higher rents were among the biggest irritants to ranchers, many of whom argued that, under the new system, their operations were not economically sustainable and would be unsellable.
The government said transfers inflated land value, would not be expected in any other rental situation, and that rents before the changes had been frozen for years.
The resulting outrage simmered through most of the PC government’s remaining tenure.
After industry consultation in recent months, new changes to the system were made, this time largely in line with rancher concerns on land improvement valuation and transfers. For the most part, leaseholders accepted the changes.
“The PCs campaign commitment yesterday is definitely a positive one,” said Manitoba Beef Producers general manager Carson Callum.
“When we consider the cost of Crown land leases in the last couple of years, how they’ve gone up, and add the inflationary pressures that producers have gone through and other things like market forces and droughts or floods, this particular commitment is positive.”
RELATED: Ag issues at the polls
The PC announcement also committed to find a way to compensate lessees for improvements they made if the land is claimed through Treaty Land Entitlement (TLE). That would involve negotiations with the federal government.
Callum said this is an important issue for his members. MBP has been advocating to ensure that, if land is transferred in a TLE, the leaseholder receives proper compensation for their investments in that land.
“I think it’s important that the province work in collaboration with the federal government to ensure that that process is outlined in policy,” said Callum.
NDP critique track record
Though recent amendments have doused most flames ignited by 2019 Crown land changes, NDP messaging continues to focus on the initial spark that started the fire. The PCs shouldn’t pat themselves on the back for a patchwork of fixes to a problem they made, the NDP said.
“Those changes were bad changes, and all the concerned ranchers and livestock producers have been saying it out loud for the last four years, but this government didn’t listen to them,” said NDP incumbent and most recent agriculture critic Diljeet Brar.
The recent announcements “are just election-year promises,” he said. “I don’t trust them.”
Brar said the Crown lands system is still flawed, and changes to the auction process favour bidders with deep pockets, despite promising to do the opposite.
“How can they say that this system favours the young farmers? It does not,” said Brar. “We would reverse these changes.”
When asked to elaborate, he said the NDP would consult the people on the land and build a system that benefits everyone, especially young producers.
“Policies should be built from the ground up,” said Brar.
