Manitoba Last Pork Producing Province To Offer Aid
Meeting in Regina with members of the Saskatchewan Government who recently offered support to its pork producers, Steinbach MLA Kelvin Goertzen said it’s time for the Manitoba NDP government to stop dithering and to provide assistance to battered pork producers before more damage is done to one of the province’s most important industries.
“The pork industry is responsible for thousands of jobs in Manitoba and those jobs are in jeopardy as pork producers fight the combination of low prices, high costs, a strong dollar, country of origin labelling in the United States, a hog building moratorium in Manitoba and now the negative effects of the H1N1 virus which was wrongly characterized as the ‘swine flu’,” said Goertzen. “There are already many producers who have left the industry and more will no doubt follow. But the longer the NDP government waits to offer help the more likely it is that the Manitoba pork sector will not rebound when conditions improve.”
The governing Saskatchewan Party recently announced a producer payment program that offers cash support for producers selling weanlings and finished pigs between July of last year and January 31st of this year.
According to the Manitoba Pork Council, Manitoba is the only major pork-producing province to not offer assistance to its producers.
Goertzen said whether the solution is direct producer aid, a cull program, or a combination of these and other measures, there needs to be a made in Manitoba response for local producers. What is not needed, is another loan program.
“Hog farmers are up to their eye-balls in debt already. Another loan program wouldn’t make any difference,” said Goertzen.
Goertzen said that while there are major industries in North America benefiting from government sponsored help after having engaged in poor business practices, the pork industry is being hurt as a result of things beyond its control.
“The average pork producer in Manitoba has done a good job of managing their farm and their finances. They are struggling not because of decisions they have made but because of things that are beyond their control,” said Goertzen.
