“I find this entire carbon tax thing to be a complete fiasco and I view our prime minister (Justin Trudeau) as a quisling,” Starbuck farmer Ed Rempel said during KAP’s fall advisory council meeting here Nov. 2.

“Why are we supporting a carbon tax?”

KAP president Dan Mazier said KAP’s position was determined democratically.

“If there’s a different way of dealing with the reality by all means bring it forward in a resolution, Mazier said. “But I appreciate the comments because it has been a very long year. Now we have something we can move forward with.”

Mazier, who said the issue has been divisive, hopes to get KAP members’ feedback at district meetings being held around the province Nov. 13 to 17.

• Read more: Carbon tax could translate into more demand for canola

Would be imposed

The “reality” Mazier alluded to, was that a year ago the Manitoba government told KAP the province will have a carbon tax one way or another. That’s because the federal government announced it would impose one if provinces didn’t develop their own.

KAP chose to push for a carbon tax exemption on carbon emissions resulting from farming as well as on farm fuels, and to encourage the government to invest some of its carbon tax revenue to help farmers reduce carbon emissions and help the environment.

The Manitoba government unveiled its plan Oct. 27, which includes a flat $25-a-tonne carbon tax starting sometime next year. (The federal government’s plan would start at $10 a tonne and rise to $50 by 2022. The federal government said if Manitoba’s plan doesn’t go to $50 it will be non-compliant.)

Manitoba’s plan also includes some of what KAP sought, including a carbon tax exemption on emissions caused by farming and on purple fuel.

The plan also proposes working with farmers to sequester carbon and tackle flooding, droughts, drainage and wetland and grassland restoration and preservation.

Agriculture heard

In an interview later Mazier agreed KAP got much of what it sought.

Manitoba’s carbon tax is expected to earn the government $258 million a year — $74 million of it from homeowners.

Much of that money will come from the carbon tax that will add an extra 5.2 and 6.7 cents a litre on the cost of (non-farm) gasoline and diesel, respectively, and another 4.8 cents per cubic metre on natural gas.

The government hasn’t decided if it will exempt fuels to heat barns and grain dryers.

“If we don’t keep the pressure on it’s going to go the other way,” Mazier said later in an interview.

Mazier told Rempel the Manitoba government understands agriculture. Premier Brian Pallister said purple fuel had to be exempt from the carbon tax because most farmers are price takers and can’t pass the tax on.

Mazier said Manitoba’s plan will bring all government departments together to work on the environment, including agriculture and the environment.

I think that’s a really positive move. We’ll see,” he said.

“We know what it’s like to be locked out of the environmental camp. We’re living that policy today through our surface water management strategy, our (hog) barn moratorium, all that sort of stuff. That is environment policy that we had no say in. I think we’ve turned that corner.

“I think it’s a really good approach. I’ve never seen this much openness and collaboration on the environment and agriculture.”

Ongoing development

New programs to help farmers cut emission and deliver ecological services will likely take a year or two to implement, KAP general manager James Battershill said.

“It certainly is going to be a key component around what the province develops on this file,” Battershill said.

Manitoba has two years to demonstrate its plan to reduce carbon emissions is better than Ottawa’s, he said. Farm programs are likely to be in place no later than 2020 “because they (Manitoba government) need farmers to support them with their challenges with Ottawa,” he said.

The Manitoba government says its plan to reduce carbon should take into the billions of dollars Manitobans have invested and continue to invest in clean hydro electricity.

“I think it is a very valid argument,” Mazier said.

It’s also why in Manitoba agriculture accounts for 32 per cent of the province’s carbon emissions, second only to transportation at 39 per cent, he said. In most other provinces electrical production is one of the biggest emitters.

“We’re (as farmers) not any less efficient, or giving off any more greenhouse gas, than (farmers in) Saskatchewan, Alberta or B.C.,” Mazier said. “But our balance is different in Manitoba… and that’s the predicament… and that’s why they came up with this made-in-Manitoba solution.”

Mazier also noted the plan should prevent large carbon emitters, such as Husky’s ethanol plant in Minnedosa and Koch Fertilizer in Brandon, from leaving the province.

Under what the Manitoba government is calling “output pricing” the province’s eight biggest emitters will be expected not to produce more carbon than is considered the industry standard. If they do they will pay the carbon tax on the overage, rather than on their total emissions. If they emit less they will get a credit, which they can sell or trade.

That system isn’t expected to take effect until 2019.

The post Mazier defends KAP’s approach on ‘made-in-Manitoba’ carbon tax appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

U.S. politicians apparently needed less convincing — on Oct. 22 President Bill Clinton signed a record $8.9-billion farm aid package, including $5.54 billion in direct cash aid to grain and cotton growers.

At a KAP general council meeting in Portage, there was discussion of addressing the low price problem by following the law of supply and demand, and president Ian Wishart floated an idea to pay farmers for setting aside farmland to reduce overproduction.

Livestock producers were also facing problems — a round of “citizen hearings” on the pork industry heard many criticisms from the general public, and producers attending Manitoba Cattle Producer Association local meetings heard that the organization’s coffers were being drained by its $400,000 share of the legal bills in fighting U.S. anti-dumping duties.

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“(The Canadian farmer) is entitled… to as much protection from the Canadian government as other producers get in other countries with whom he has to be in competition… you know these are ways in which the Canadian government can help the problem. But basically unless you take the view that the government should step in and own the farms and hire the farmers, I think we all share the responsibility and we will all have to do the best we can all together.”

The comment about protection for producers was appropriate for the news that week — our front-page story was a request by the Canadian Federation of Agriculture for federal and provincial governments to provide another $1.5 billion to match subsidies in the U.S. and EU.

Grain companies were also struggling — Agricore reported a meagre $1.3 million in earnings and UGG $2.2 million (the two were about to merge), while SaskPool reported a loss of $89.9 million.

Biotech corn was in the news — the U.S. was testing snack foods for the presence of Starlink corn, an unapproved type which had been approved for animal but not human consumption.

The post Trudeau asks, “Why should I sell your wheat?” appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

The Grade 11 teen from Newdale 4-H Club was one of six Manitoba delegates visiting the nations capital in early May to participate in the 4-H Canada Citizenship Congress. 4-H Canada has offered this program since the early 1970s as an opportunity for young delegates to deepen their understanding of governance and public policy, while strengthening their communication skills through formal debates.

The young Manitobans were part of a 61-member Canadian youth delegation attending the 2016 event themed ‘Canada: Redefining Rural.’

Dewar-Norosky, a nine-year veteran with the Newdale 4-H Club, says she came home from the event newly inspired about being involved with her community and her student council at her school in Strathclair. She brought back new ideas about what to do after high school too.

“I’d sort of ruled out farming as a future career but I came back thinking about ways I could start farming,” she said. “It really made me proud to be living on a farm. And it got me kind of more interested in politics, to admire politics for what it is.”

Highlights of the trip included a meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and a chance to debate in the Senate Chamber, she said. They had the ear of the PM for nearly 40 minutes and it was an informal, relaxed discussion, said Dewar- Norosky. Prior to their meeting, they chose a series of questions to ask, most related to their common experience as youth living in rural and remote Canada. No access to broadband Internet and poor cell service were raised. They also talked about how younger people are leaving rural areas and the general disinterest in becoming the next generation of farmers.

The youth delegates also met with members of Parliament, cabinet ministers, and the Speaker of the House and held a mock parliamentary debate of their own in the Senate Chamber. That was a highlight for her, said Dewar-Norosky.

“We did hours of research ahead of our debates,” she said. “To see it all come together was really fulfilling. And to be standing in such a beautiful room in such a beautiful building… it kind of took my breath away.”

Her colleagues from Manitoba included Jenai Buchanan of Clearwater 4-H Beef Club, Clearwater, Amber Dyrda and Christine Kilpatrick with Teulon 4-H Club, Levi Rimke of Oak Lake 4-H Beef Club and Luke Weidenhamer with Dand 4-H Club, Deloraine.

Shannon Benner, chief executive officer for 4-H Canada, said the goal of the annual 4-H Citizen Congress always is to help young Canadians learn about the value of engaging with their communities. The program is also aimed at helping youth better understand governance and public policy while honing communication skills.

“4-H in general is about helping young people find out how they can impact the world around them,” she said. “This is one of the programs that helps young people find that spark and figure out how they can positively impact their communities.”

The 2016 delegates were an impressive group and really shone when they met with the PM.

“They asked really good questions, from hot topics in agriculture and what he sees as important work ahead for his government, to where he sees the most amount of opportunity for youth in general, to his thoughts on youth in rural communities, and what kind of shampoo he uses.

“It was a very authentic conversation, I would say.”

The post Manitoba delegates inspired by 2016 Citizenship Congress appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

Other priorities include determining if farm aid programs are adequate, investing in infrastructure to protect soil and water and refocusing the government’s role in scientific research.

The Canadian Wheat Board is not coming back, but the Liberal government will dig into its apparent ‘giveaway’ to a foreign company and perhaps release the CWB’s 2012-13 annual report and financial statements that former agricuture minister Gerry Ritz kept secret.

• More on the Manitoba Co-operator: CWB sale to be scrutinized by new Liberal government

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his cabinet, including an agriculture minister, were to be sworn in Nov. 4 — two days after this week’s Manitoba Co-operator went to press.

Grain transportation is a priority, Goodale said in an interview last week, noting that a review of the Canadian Transportation Act led by former cabinet minister David Emerson is supposed to be done by the end of the year.

“This presents an opportunity for significant improvements in the system. It will be important to seize that opportunity to put in place a system that will not be prone to the kind of disaster that happened in 2013-14.”

Canada produced a record crop that year, but a backlog developed in railway grain shipments. Farmers and grain companies blamed the railways for not investing in enough surge capacity; the railways blamed the big crop and the coldest winter in 100 years.

Although the new government will consider Emerson’s recommendations, it’s on record as supporting subjecting the railways to commercial penalties for failing to fulfil service agreements with grain shippers. That’s just normal contractual law, Goodale said.

“This is the only case where it doesn’t apply,” he added. “What seems astounding is that the railways seem astounded when you say the basic principles of business and contract law should apply to them.”

It’s also time to calculate the railways’ costs of shipping grain — something last done in 1992, Goodale said. The formula used to set the railways’ maximum revenue entitlement is based on those 1992 costs, adjusted annually for inflation. However, it’s widely believed by farm groups that many railway costs have declined due to increased rail and grain-handling efficiency, resulting in farmers paying much more than intended.

“It is reasonable I think, to update the arithmetic,” Goodale said.

TPP review

The new government is also keen to review the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement before endorsing it.

While former minister Gerry Ritz was widely praised for his many trade missions to boost Canadian farm exports, Goodale isn’t impressed.

“The previous government seemed content to go from one trade negotiation to the other without a heck of a lot of followup,” he said.

“Once you’ve got the market access then you’ve got to make use of it and this government has not had a marketing or sales strategy. The end result is we’ve had 55 months of trade deficits under the Harper government.”

Ritz’s efforts lack the “pizzaz” of the Team Canada trade missions conducted by former Liberal government, according to Goodale.

The Conservative government cut farm program budgets and made it harder to trigger payments from AgriStability. Goodale said the new government will consult with farm groups and the provinces to see if the programs can meet farmers’ needs when commodity prices fall.

Some of the Liberal government’s infrastructure spending is intended for natural resources infrastructure, Goodale said.

“With the onset of more and more consequences from climate change we are very likely to have more frequent and more severe cycles of floods and droughts,” he said.

“The frustration is some years you have a flood and lack systems to control it or save it and then next year you have a drought.”

More basic research

The Liberals plan big changes to government scientific research, including in agriculture. There will be more basic, curiosity research, not just applied research tied to a commercial outcome, Goodale said.

“Science within the Government of Canada is totally messed up and the scientific community within the government is obviously muzzled and intimidated,” he said. “The whole thing needs to be examined from top to bottom to get science policy right.

“There’s a lot of work to do to repair the damage that has been done.”

Although the Liberals won a strong majority Oct. 19, outside of Atlantic Canada they have few rural seats. Asked how the new government will avoid becoming city-centric Goodale replied: “We’ll just have to work very hard at it.

“The prime-minister elect has made it very clear that he wants to be a prime minister for all of Canada and we’ll work very hard to achieve that.”

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The newspaper said the compensation would be intended to blunt the impact on supply management from Canada joining the Trans-Pacific Pact. Speculation about a TPP deal this summer has heated up with Congress giving U.S. President Obama fast-track authority to negotiate a deal.

“Our government continues to defend both our supply-managed and other agricultural sectors throughout negotiations,” Ritz said when asked about the newspaper report. “We have been clear that the government will only sign a deal that is in the best interests of Canadians.”

The federal election due in October gives the issue extra bounce, especially in Ontario and Quebec where much of the supply-managed sector is located.

Many livestock and crop groups want Canada to be in the TPP to ensure ongoing access to growing Asian markets. Commodity groups’ support for a TPP deal has been swept along in a campaign orchestrated by the Canadian Council for Chief Executives, which has long advocated abolition of supply management.

There are precedents for compensation for the impacts of trade deals. It was offered to the Ontario wine industry after NAFTA was signed and both the dairy and East Coast fishing industry could be in line for compensation if the tentative free trade deal with Europe gains final approval. The compensation is to be tied to actual financial losses.

All the parties in Parliament have supported supply management on several occasions. With the latest speculation about the future of the dairy and poultry sectors, NDP Leader Tom Mulcair has called on Prime Minister Stephen Harper to defend supply management.

“I am urging you to commit to defending supply management in its entirety and reassure Canadians that it will be protected in all future negotiations,” Mulcair said. “Concessions in supply management sectors could have profoundly negative effects on our regional economies.”

He said Harper had created uncertainty when he said Canada is “working to protect” the supply management system in the TPP talks. “It is essential in my view that Canada be part of that — that the Canadian economy be part of that. At the same time, we are working to protect our system of supply management and our farmers in other sectors.”

Wally Smith, president of Dairy Farmers of Canada, said it’s critical for farmers “to keep in mind that no deal has yet been signed, and that negotiations are ongoing. However, they will ramp up over the course of the coming weeks. Dairy Farmers of Canada is in regular contact with the federal government. The government is telling us, and the media, that they will continue to defend supply management in these negotiations.”

He urges farmers and dairy suppliers and processors to use DFC’s MilkleDown Effect to remind politicians and the public about the benefits of supply management.

“In the meantime, we need to show a strong and united front throughout the supply chain, including partners and suppliers.”

Several observers noted the Globe story was based on unnamed sources and buried a statement by Trade Minister Ed Fast that supply management will still be left standing after a TPP deal that Canada signs.

The article was accompanied by a standard anti-supply management editorial.

The post Supply management compensation plan rumours dismissed by Ritz appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

Some of the 12 nations taking part in negotiations on a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) want Canada to start dismantling supply management, which protects dairy, egg and chicken producers.

“The pressure is there and there is a risk that access could be provided,” said Yves Leduc, director of international trade at the Dairy Farmers of Canada lobbying group.

“The negotiations are moving on and obviously there is a risk… (and) that is causing a lot of concerns within the dairy-farming industry,” he said in a phone interview.

This could be problematic for Prime Minister Stephen Harper, whose right-of-centre Conservatives will be relying on support in rural areas in a federal election due on Oct. 19.

Harper said June 25 that Canada must join TPP but it would also work to protect supply management, a system that New Zealand’s trade minister says belongs in the former Soviet Union.

The Canadian Council of Chief Executives and other industry groups in Canada say it is time to scrap the system, but the Conservatives are wary of the dairy lobby’s power.

Farmers in the French-speaking province of Quebec, which accounts for 40 per cent of dairy products, ran full-page newspaper advertisements last month opposing TPP. The ads featured large pictures of pitchforks.

Harper has given no indication of what concessions Canada might make at the talks.

“Obviously, if we are negatively hurt we will be seeking the proper measures to properly mitigate any negative impact,” Leduc said.

Harper’s office declined to comment on an article in the Globe and Mail newspaper June 26 that said Ottawa would give more access to foreign dairy producers under TPP and compensate Canadian farmers for any losses.

“We want to make sure that Canada is a part of a TPP agreement… (Harper) will only sign an agreement that’s in Canada’s best interests,” a Harper spokesman said.

Dairy farmers are still unhappy that when Canada negotiated a recent free trade deal with the European Union it gave away an extra 17,000 tonnes of cheese, less than four per cent of the overall Canadian market.

Leduc said the concession would have “a tremendous negative impact,” estimating the value of the cheese at $300 million.

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The crop report for the week ending June 12 said seeding was 75 per cent complete for the province overall, but only 70 per cent in the Eastern Region and 50 per cent in the Interlake due to excess moisture.

We reported that new Wheat Board Minister Don Mazankowski had visited the board’s offices in Winnipeg, and promised a quick decision on purchase or lease of more hopper cars to ease the transportation backlog. It was his first visit to the board as minister in the newly elected minority government under Prime Minister Joe Clark.

Grain exports were to be set back by yet another strike — West Coast longshoremen were off work for 11 days that month, and there was concern about contract talks with grain handlers at Thunder Bay.

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Bob Bergland said the need for ethanol production would be considered the amount of corn acreage to be set aside the next year. At that time the U.S. was still paying farmers to cut acreage in an effort to reduce supplies and raise prices. Bergland said production of ethanol from waste material made more sense than producing it from grain, due to uncertainty of supply from year to year. He also dismissed notions of a U.S. grain board or an international cartel to control supplies in an effort to raise prices.

The post A new herbicide called Roundup, and a strike sets back grain exports appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

A year after the Canadian cabinet in an unprecedented move passed an order-in-council requiring Canadian National (CN) and Canadian Pacific (CP) railways to ship a weekly minimum volume of grain or be fined up to $100,000 a day, Stephen Harper says government intervention is justified.

“But we understand, and it’s important that everyone who’s looking at this system understands, that this is an unusual situation where in the marketplace you have two large suppliers — the two big railway companies — where they have extraordinary market power,” Harper told the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities’ annual meeting in Saskatoon last week.

“And we simply cannot accept outcomes where those two big companies would dictate to the market just what they think is satisfactory in their interests. That is not going to serve the wider interests of grain farmers or of the Canadian economy.”

Farmers and grain shippers couldn’t be happier.

“He gets it,” Dan Mazier, president of the Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP) said in an interview. “That’s what we’ve been asking for. We need regulations to mimic competition where it doesn’t exist.”

Harper is right, Western Grain Elevator Association (WGEA) executive director Wade Sobkowich said in a statement.

“It stands to reason that the extraordinary railway market power must be counterbalanced with legislative solutions, which we are optimistic the government will introduce after the CTA (Canadian Transportation Act) review process has been completed,” he said.

CN and CP opposed the order and say it doesn’t need to be renewed when it expires March 28 .

“The grain supply is now fully back in sync,” CN spokesman Mark Hallman said in an email. “CN today is efficiently responding to the demand… and is on pace to deliver another banner year for western Canadian grain.”

CN and CP say government regulation impedes efficiency.

Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz initially defended the railways saying they were doing a reasonable job moving a record crop. But his position changed as the grain car backlog continued to grow. Last March the government issued its first order-in-council.

“You’ve all heard of back-to-work legislation, this will be get-to-work legislation,” Ritz declared at a news conference with Transport Minister Lisa Raitt in Winnipeg.

The order required the railways, in total, to ship at least one million tonnes of western grain a week until July 31, 2014.

Two more orders followed, with the current one set to expire March 28.

New order?

The government has not said if it will renew the order, but in an email Ritz said the government is still concerned and watching, though the system is not as strained as last year.

Both railways issued statements last week saying they’re shipping more grain than ordered and the order isn’t needed.

While most farm groups and grain shippers supported the original order, the WGEA isn’t advocating one way or the other on renewal.

“We’re saying if they are going to renew it there are some problems with it that need to be fixed,” Sobkowich said in an interview. “If they aren’t going to renew it then we need to know that the government is thinking about what is eventually going to replace it in a very meaningful and substantial way.”

An order-in-council is a tool to be kept at the ready, Mazier said.

“Don’t put it in the cupboard just in case…”

The original order was necessary, Sobkowich and Mazier agree.

“It was the right thing to do,” because it got grain moving again, Sobkowich said.

But both agreed there were “unintended consequences.” To ensure they met the order, the railways focused on loading and unloading grain where it could be done the fastest, resulting in inequitable delivery opportunities and certain customers not getting service.

“Given the circumstances I don’t think the government had any other choice but to do what they did,” said Mark Hemmes of Quorum Corporation, the firm hired by the federal government to monitor western grain transportation. “Practically and politically they had to do this.”

The railways shipped 34.8 million tonnes in 2013-14 — the most since 1990 when Quorum began monitoring — but there’s no way to know if it was due to the order or a coincidence, he added.

What’s clear though is the bad blood between the railways and grain companies.

“The acrimony — we’ve got to find a way to clear that away,” Hemmes said.

It won’t be easy. The railways and shippers continue to argue over system performance. Shipping has improved, but grain transportation is not fixed, Mazier said pointing to the 11 per cent shortfall in car orders so far this crop year, according to data collected from shippers through the Ag Transportation Coalition.

“That level of service is just pathetic,” he said.

The railways dispute the figures. CN says car orders are only a day or two behind.

Both KAP and the WGEA are counting on the CTA review to give them what they want — regulations that force the railways to agree to provide grain shippers with a specified level of service backed by penalties if they don’t. The grain sector hopes the prime minister’s words are followed by action.

The post Harper says railways can’t be allowed to misuse market power appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

“Everyone is just holding their breath. I’m not sure how long we can keep on like this,” said Louise Goforth July 3. She was tending the store while its manager and local volunteers figured out how to get grocery supplies in washed-out roads.

The local RM of Edward also restricted gas sales last week to ensure supplies for emergency vehicles.

But no one was going anywhere anyways.

The small southwestern village and surrounding farms had become virtual islands by mid-week following a late-June deluge over a region that had already received twice the normal rainfall since April. The familiar landscape became a surreal terrain of swamp and submerged farmland, washed-out roads and impassable bridges.

Grocery shelves were restocked in Pierson by the next day, and mostly sunshine through the week had helped reduce panic to brooding anxiety, but their evolving predicament remained among the worst in a province declaring a provincial state of emergency July 4.

Provincial officials warned of more overland flooding to come and a surge from the Assiniboine in the coming days that could be even worse than 2011.

Manitoba Minister of Infrastructure and Transportation Steve Ashton noted record water flows on at least 17 streams and rivers in the regional watershed.

As of July 7, 55 municipalities and communities had declared local states of emergency and approximately 725 people had been evacuated.

Municipal officials say mopping up the mess will easily top what was spent cleaning up after the last record flood in 2011.

This is a situation “many times worse” than 2011, said Edward councillor, Debbie McMechan, whose municipality declared a state of emergency June 5. The cost will be far higher too and the bill harder to foot.

Their entire municipal budget is just over $2 million and the extent of the damages to their roads and bridges is massive, she said.

“It’ll be a lot easier to count the roads that aren’t (damaged),” she said. “I don’t want to sound dramatic but this is definitely going to cost in the millions (to repair).”

Crop insurance won’t come anywhere near compensating farmers this time around, she added.

• More from the Manitoba Co-operator: KAP calls for special assistance in the form of AgriRecovery

“It is in no way a tool that can be used in a situation like this,” she said. “That’s like emptying one of these spots with a teaspoon.”

McMechan also expressed frustration that years of pleading for long-term flood mitigation from the region has been ignored.

Provincial premier, Greg Selinger said at week’s end the extent of flood damages won’t be known for some time, and would depend on how the situation unfolded in the coming days.

Heroism

What residents in the flooded southwest were able to tally last week were the local acts of heroism and resiliency as the week unfolded.

“We’re farm people. We just cope. We are people who help each other,” said Pierson resident Aileen Tucker who teamed up with other local women to assist Manitoba Emergency Measures Organization in finding out what people in the area needed.

That led to what they jokingly called an organized “drug run,” taking orders and co-ordinating deliveries of critical medications such as insulin.

With only two routes left into Pierson, a handful of volunteer drivers made the treacherous trips over watery roads and a makeshift, two-plank bridge to the Melita pharmacy to bring back deliveries of medicine and groceries.

A helicopter was on call in Brandon in case any residents cut off due to road closures required immediate emergency help.

Outside town, farm families were marooned on their yards as stories of floating quads and tractors swept off roadways circulated.

“We could probably get to Pierson if we drove over some roads with four to six inches of water on it, but we won’t try it,” said cattle producer Ted Artz July 3 whose farm, divided by the now-raging Gainsborough Creek, is just a half-dozen miles from the Saskatchewan and North Dakota borders. Surveying fields they’d ordinarily be cutting hay from by now, Artz said he’s never seen the rainfall or a landscape so inundated by water in the 40 years they’ve farmed here.

Muster resources

Selinger, accompanied by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, said July 6 governments will muster all possible resources to help restore infrastructure and get people moving again throughout what he called the “very stressed communities” of the southwest.

But eyeing the watery world around them last week, Artz said the cash and time needed for it is practically incomprehensible.

“We’ll put this thing back together,” he said. “But it will take time and a lot of money. It took three years to get the bridge at Coulter (over the Souris River on PR 251) put back together. That was one bridge.”

A mobile recovery office was scheduled to be set up in communities in the southwest area of Manitoba beginning with the town of Virden this week, with staff available to answer questions and take applications for disaster financial assistance.

Meanwhile, at week’s start a massive effort was underway to protect up to 350 properties as soldiers from CFB Shilo arrived in Portage la Prairie to help municipal workers and volunteers begin sandbagging and protect properties along the Assiniboine there, including about 150 properties south of the Hoop and Holler Bend southeast of Portage la Prairie.

The province had warned that a controlled release through the Hoop and Holler outlet would be used as a last resort to prevent dike breaches farther downstream.

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