What the parties are saying

Each of the major political parties in Manitoba have been directly sent a letter outlining KAP’s five producer priorities. Here are the responses that have been received:

Thank you for taking the time to reach out to us with your concerns regarding agriculture and rural communities.

The PC Party is here to listen to producers and rural residents, to make sure your voices are heard and to take action by fighting for all Manitobans.

1.  Remove the Education Property Tax on Farmland: It unfairly burdens larger modern farms. Manitoba's education funding needs reform for fairness and stable funding.

The PC Party has already taken bold steps to slash the Education Property Tax on farm lands by half, and we are on a clear and committed path to its complete elimination. We recognize that producers require sizable land holdings in order to be successful in today’s agriculture economy. It's only fair they don't carry an undue tax burden. Our economic vision for Manitoba not only ensures a fairer, more competitive tax system but also paves the way for a growing tax base. This will allow us to build upon our record of increased education funding.

2.  Pass Right-to-Repair Laws for Farm Machinery: We need the right to repair our equipment, not just rely on dealerships. 

The PC Party is fully aware of this issue given the growing reliance on advanced technology in farming equipment, and the significant investment required. Our party supports right-to-repair regulations, and we will take action by lobbying both the federal government and the industry to adopt a common diagnostic interface, and work to ensure that producers and local mechanics have easy access to parts and reference tables. This will allow producers to buy aftermarket parts for machinery repairs, reduce operational costs, and give them independence from dealerships.

3.  Improve Infrastructure - Railways, highways, flood infrastructure, wireless communication, ag support services and hydro services: Disruptions from natural disasters and eroding infrastructure underscore the urgency of policies that amplify competitiveness, supply chain capacity, and the ability to carry out necessary work on-farm.

Quick and efficient transportation of products is crucial for our thriving agriculture industry. While in office, the PC Party invested $4.1 billion in a multi-year infrastructure strategy to upgrade Manitoba's infrastructure, including 525 highway projects, 214 water-related initiatives, and 116 culvert replacements. We have a plan in action to transform our provincial infrastructure for the benefit of all Manitobans. Further, we’re working to secure more federal government protections for containerized and processed Ag and Agri-food products, similar to those for bulk grain, to ensure supply chain stability.

4.  Solve Labour Shortages in Agriculture: Chronic labour shortages impact our ability to fill vital roles, causing ripple effects throughout the food supply chain.

Labour shortages are affecting all sectors of Manitoba's economy, with the province experiencing record-low unemployment rates. While this is good news for Manitobans who are already working, it presents challenges for businesses seeking to expand their workforce. To address these challenges, we are taking a multi-pronged approach.

Most importantly, we are actively promoting careers in the agriculture sector to Manitoba's young people, ensuring they are aware of the opportunities available to them. Locally, we continue to support "Ag in the Classroom," an initiative that introduces K-12 students to the importance of agriculture in their lives and the career prospects within Manitoba. Additionally, we are providing support to Manitoba's post-secondary institutions to ensure there are more training seats to fill the demands of our growing economy. Our government has reaffirmed its commitment to agricultural education by investing $6.4 million in the construction of the Prairie Crops and Soils Research Facility at the University of Manitoba.

We are also boosting skilled immigration to Manitoba, welcoming more newcomers to fill job vacancies. In 2023, we increased Manitoba’s Provincial Nominee Program spaces to 9,500, a 50% increase from 2022. Lastly, our pledge to eliminate the payroll tax ensures that employers can reinvest in their businesses and tap into an expanded labour pool without facing penalties for creating new jobs and hiring Manitobans.

5.  Better Healthcare and Safety in Rural Areas: Farm safety means reliable healthcare, secure communities, and connectivity. We need support for our communities to thrive.

Health-care didn’t break overnight and we know it won’t be fixed overnight, but we have a plan in action and will continue taking steps to invest in health-care and keep it on the road to recovery. While in office, our PC government took proactive steps to strengthen healthcare:

-We invested $400 million in our Health Care Human Resources Action Plan, adding 2,000 healthcare professionals to our system in the past year.

-We expanded our recruitment efforts overseas, hiring 300 healthcare workers from the Philippines, who will soon join our workforce.

-We're bringing in 150 family doctors and have a $268-million agreement with physicians to address shortages in underserved areas.

-We're committing an additional $120-million over the next four years to recruit health workers to Manitoba, with $40 million dedicated to rural communities.

In contrast to NDP, who closed 16 rural emergency rooms during their 17-year mismanagement of healthcare, our PC Party is building new hospitals in Portage La Prairie and Neepawa, and upgrading existing facilities like Brandon Hospital, Brandon CancerCare, Boundary Trails Hospital, and Bethesda Regional Hospital. We've also increased class sizes for nursing and medical students.

When it comes to public safety, our PC team firmly believes in defending, not defunding, the police. We've provided an average 28% increase in police funding province-wide, along with a $52-million investment in our Violent Crime Strategy. Our leader, Heather Stefanson, has led the provinces in the push for federal bail reform to prevent high-risk violent offenders from being released into our communities through stricter bail laws. 

Thank you for the opportunity to share our plan for agriculture and rural Manitoba.

The PC Party of Manitoba

Thank you for reaching out and engaging in this critical election. Wab Kinew and the NDP team are committed to working together to make life better for those working in agriculture, and for all Manitobans. In your letter, you identified several issues that were important to you. We’re pleased to share our responses below.

Education property tax: The Manitoba NDP is committed to maintaining the 50% reduction to the education property tax on farmland. Rather than spending taxpayer dollars to mail out rebates, we will remove the tax from your property bill right up-front so you never have to pay it in the first place.

Right to repair for farm machinery: The Manitoba NDP has previously introduced bills on this important issue. We support the right to repair as part of our larger vision for consumer protection, and we look forward to working with consumers and farmers to address this issue if we are elected Government.

Improve infrastructure: We are committed to stopping the cuts we have seen under Heather Stefanson’s PCs. The Manitoba NDP will create a Blue Ribbon Infrastructure Panel to get the job done for Manitobans, ensuring communities get the roads, highways, bridges, and flood infrastructure they need. We will help rural families by supporting rural broadband to help communities and ISPs connect to affordable high-quality cell service and broadband. We will also help with your monthly bills by freezing hydro rates in our first year of government.

Solve labour shortages: Our plan to grow the economy will create a Premier's Business and Jobs Council to bring together sector leaders from business, skilled trades, agriculture, and labour to tackle shortages across the province. We will invest in training to support our home-grown talent, including supporting the University of Manitoba that was cut by the PCs, as well as improving immigration pathways. We know we need stronger immigration programs including settlement programs and we have a plan to do it. We will also provide targeted funding programs that make it possible for our young people to envision a bright future in agriculture.

Better healthcare and safety in rural areas: The Manitoba NDP was the first party to unveil a rural health strategy that focuses on restoring and doubling the rural doctor recruitment fund that Heather Stefanson cut, and recruiting and retaining more healthcare staff to keep ERs and clinics open across the province. We will hire paramedics cut by the PCs and train more nurses to work in rural Manitoba by creating a pathway for LPNs to become RNs without having to leave the community they call home. We will also equip rural and Northern health centres with innovative health technology so doctors at the bedside can connect patients with the best specialists right away.

For safety, we will improve bail measures by implementing the National Police Federations recommendations on bail reform including support for better data sharing among law enforcement, investments in rural broadband to improve bail monitoring, and introducing standard qualifications for those who conduct bail hearings. Our five-point crime strategy will help make our communities safe while also supporting people with better mental health services, addiction treatments, and access to housing.

Thank you again for giving us the chance to respond.

The Manitoba NDP

1. Remove the Education Property Tax on Farmland: It unfairly burdens larger modern farms. Manitoba's education funding needs reform for fairness and stable funding. 

Education property taxes are needed to ensure that our school divisions have a proper source of revenue to administer programs and services to schools and ultimately our children. Manitoba Liberals are not committing to eliminating Education Property Taxes but have introduced a suite of measures to boost affordability for Manitobans. 

We will reform the provincial income tax brackets to make them more fair for lower and middle income earners. We will similarly make those changes to the Basic Personal Exemption. Manitoba Liberals are also supportive of phasing out the payroll tax, which we see as unnecessarily burdensome on employers across the province. 

2. Pass Right-to-Repair Laws for Farm Machinery: We need the right to repair our equipment, not just rely on dealerships. 

Manitoba Liberals are supportive of right to repair laws. Producers have the right to repair their equipment and not have to be reliant on dealerships. 

3. Improve Infrastructure: Railways, highways, flood infrastructure, wireless communication, ag support services and hydro services: Disruptions from natural disasters and eroding infrastructure underscore the urgency of policies that amplify competitiveness, supply chain capacity, and the ability to carry out necessary work on-farm. 

Manitoba Liberals have committed to making investments in strategic community infrastructure and ensure municipalities have long term funding to ensure predictable budgeting and planning for their own economic growth and development. 

The PC’s funding freeze left many municipalities unable to put together multi-year budgets. In consultation with the Association of Manitoba Municipalities we will determine ‘shovel-worthy’ projects that will give Manitoba a maximum return on investment – value added processing and investing in improving our own trade corridor infrastructure to grow our economy. We will also support Centreport as North America’s largest inland intermodal trade hub by investing in better servicing to be available, including water, wastewater and energy services. 

Aside from improvements in railways, highways, and flood infrastructure which are absolutely essential, we have announced that we will work with cellular providers to expand cellular service while significantly improving broadband internet to rural and northern Manitoba. We will improve cellular coverage especially along key transportation corridors. For all Manitobans, internet has now become a absolute necessity and we need to do all we can to ensure it is accessible, especially to those who rely on it for employment, education, and medical care. 

4. Solve Labour Shortages in Agriculture: Chronic labour shortages impact our ability to fill vital roles, causing ripple effects throughout the food supply chain. 

When it comes to attracting workers to Manitoba, we know that the our provincial immigration system, the MPNP is not adequate. We recognize that reuniting people with their families is often the best incentive for people to lay down roots in a community. We will create an enhanced family reunification stream in the Provincial Nominee Program and negotiate with the federal government a larger percentage of new Canadians to Manitoba based on our province’s needs in agriculture. 

For healthcare and other key industries, attracting and retaining people is all about opportunity, and recognizing the value of people’s work. In one way wages are a way of stating your value – and when our wages are low compared to other provinces, its as if these other places say they value our people more. 

5. Better Healthcare and Safety in Rural Areas: Farm safety means reliable healthcare, secure communities, and connectivity. We need support for our communities to thrive. 

Our healthcare system is in crisis. Successive NDP and PC governments have mismanaged healthcare for far too long and have failed to plan for the system's long term needs. Manitoba Liberals have promised to expand the number of residencies and International Medical Graduates in Manitoba so we can quickly 

increase the number of doctors working in the system. We will also establish a Brandon campus of the University of Manitoba medical school as a faculty dedicated to rural and northern medicine. 

Crime has skyrocketed under the PC government. More than half of Manitobans feel less safe than they did three years ago due to a sharp increase in violent and property crime across the province. 

Both Brian Pallister and Heather Stefanson’s governments chose to reduce or eliminate all means to reduce the risk factors of crime: poverty, addictions, mental health and a lack of educational and training opportunities. 

Manitoba Liberals will focus on prevention to address the root causes of crime – and this means funding for diversion programs but also to law enforcement to keep our communities safe. 

We have announced powerful new tools for police to fight organized crime, money laundering and human trafficking, which we recognize are huge problems in Manitoba. We want to ensure organized criminal activity does not flourish in our province. 

We have also announced that we will establish non-police mental health and addictions crisis teams to work in tandem with law enforcement agencies across the province. This means ensuring that we have the existing capacity within our police agencies to implement this plan.