Editorial: Crown lands on uncertain ground

Editorial: Crown lands on uncertain ground

Agriculture didn’t get a lot of airtime during the recent election, except at events hosted by the Association of Manitoba Municipalities or the Manitoba Farm Writers and Broadcasters Association. However, one burning issue got a surprising lack of play, given its heat over the course of the outgoing government’s last term. There were very few

Wab Kinew, premier-designate after his party’s Oct. 3 victory, speaks at the Association of Manitoba Municipalities leaders’ debate in April.

Ag industry reacts to NDP win

Under-representation in ag areas continues to be an issue for the now-victorious NDP

After two terms of a Progressive Conservative government, the winds of political change have turned in favour of the NDP. The party, led by now Premier-designate Wab Kinew, form Manitoba’s next provincial government following the Oct. 3 election. The NDP won a majority government Oct. 3, although few of their 34 seats are outside of


Soldiers of the Mobile Anti-Drone Group of the 160th Air Defense Missile Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces during a Shahed drone detection and destruction training near Odessa, Ukraine, October 10, 2023.

Comment: Mixed signals among Kyiv’s allies hint at growing conflict fatigue

It is now almost 600 days since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the following war has tested the resilience of both countries, but it has also tested Ukraine-supporting nations in the West. This much was evident from the mixed reception Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, received when he visited the U.S. and Canada in late September. Meanwhile, tensions in Europe over Ukrainian support

Commodity markets, however, wait for no one and, like American politics, grain futures have been slipping and slouching since early summer.

Opinion: The pileups start to pile up

U.S grain marketing is looking as messy as its politics

It’s looking like today’s political and grain market pileups will be bigger and messier than first thought. Here’s how New York Republican Representative Mike Lawler described his colleagues’ never-to-pass federal budget demands to CNN Sept. 19: “This is not conservative republicanism. This is stupidity.” There’s little wonder that Congress has spent most of 2023 shooting


Provincial election candidates speak at a forum hosted by the Manitoba Farm Writers and Broadcasters Association (L-R: Diljeet Brar (NDP), Derek Johnson (PC), Janine Gibson (Green), Neil Stewart (Liberal).

Electoral candidates take on ag issues

Ag Issues at the Polls: From property tax to rural health care, here’s what candidates from Manitoba’s major political parties have to say

Agriculture representatives from four of Manitoba’s political parties traded promises and verbal jabs over the education property tax, rural health care and water policy when they met at a Sept. 12 election forum. The Winnipeg event was organized by the Manitoba Farm Writers and Broadcasters. Candidates answered questions provided by Manitoba ag groups and had

Leaseholders pack into a fall 2019 meeting in Ste. Rose du Lac soon after the release of new Crown land regulations.

PCs promise to lower Crown land rents

Announcement commits to make rent reductions permanent

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


The Greenbelt scoops up an estimated 71 million tonnes of carbon annually. For context, the average Canadian is responsible for about 20 tonnes of carbon entering the atmosphere over the same period.

Comment: Why the proposed changes to Ontario’s Greenbelt matter

The Greenbelt is a haven for farmland and ecosystem services and it’s worth protecting

Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s government continues to be tied up in a massive scandal over its plans to remove lands from Ontario’s Greenbelt — including the integrity commissioner’s finding that the housing minister broke ethics rules. Indeed, as world leaders gathered in Vancouver on Aug. 24 to launch a “game-changing” global fund to fight biodiversity

Comment: Clock ticking south of the border

Comment: Clock ticking south of the border

Anti-work, anti-freedom U.S. Congress needs more work, more freedom

Even before the U.S. Congress returns from its five-week, no-work period to its usual three-day weeks of little work, Republicans in both chambers are signaling to global markets, the White House and their colleagues that their return will bring no 2023 Farm Bill and no 2024 U.S. federal budget by the Sept. 30 drop-dead date


Provincial leaders at the Association of Manitoba Municipalities pre-election debate in April.

KAP, AMM set election priorities for rural Manitoba

Rural Manitoba could be key battleground in the upcoming election

With the provincial election less than two months away, rural Manitoba could become an important battleground. The rural/urban split falls roughly along party lines, so the provincial Tories must shore up support in their traditional strongholds of rural Manitoba if they want to remain in office. Their counterparts in the NDP will need to make

Prices for ag imports and services have soared during COVID and the Ukrainian war years.

Comment: War is expensive both on and off the battlefield

However you describe it, war is expensive. For some, it’s extremely profitable, too

Union general William T. Sherman once famously said, “War is hell.” However you describe it, war is expensive. For some, it’s extremely profitable, too. Shooting wars aren’t the only type of warfare that are costly, deadly and often without a winner. In January 2022, the International Monetary Fund estimated the total cost of the COVID-19