The Agricultural Rally at the Legislature

Several hundred farmers came to the legislature today to bring attention to the concerns of those in the agricultural community (top photo).

Agriculture is a very important industry in Manitoba, but farmers have had real difficulties in the last several years.

Clearly the new Conservative government in Ottawa needs to act quickly to provide both short term and long term answers.

There is also a role for the provincial government. As Liberals we see that the education property tax should be removed from farm land. We also believe that the provincial sales tax should be fully removed from farm inputs.

As I have said many times before in this blog, there is also a need to address the large deficit in water management (water storage and drainage) infrastructure in Manitoba. Farmers suffered unduly last year because the water management infrastructure has not been adequately addressed. I met a farmer who said the drainage in his area was worse now than it was 100 years ago. I met another farmer who said it was worse now in his area than in the 1960s. Improving the water management infrastructure will decrease the risk to farmers and decrease the likelihood of their crops being flooded or drowned out. Paying attention to this will decrease the need for public dollars to be spent through crop insurance.

I spoke at the rally to emphasize the need to provide better support to farmers (bottom photo).