Agriculture committee  Okay, I can reply. I think we see Bill C-18 as a modernization of several acts, bringing our country into line with the international convention. Of course, plant breeders' rights have been very much discussed already this morning. I think the key interest farmers have in that s

Agriculture committee  I think there's a great opportunity here. Manitoba has a relatively small market in the scope of the entire prairie region. We do know our neighbours to the south in the U.S. have had similar experiences with fusarium head blight, and some varieties have been developed through pu

Agriculture committee  That concern came up prior to Bill C-18 being introduced. Our members asked for that kind of flexibility, and I know that this is very welcomed by our members. It's going to give producers the opportunity to have one-stop shopping so to speak with their cash advance and a lot of

Agriculture committee  Well, yes, if I could just delve a bit into the comment about the lack of people who hit the limits. The challenge is that when we talked to AAFC officials last year, they told us that in fact not all farmers use the cash advance program, and not all of them are hitting the limit

Agriculture committee  We actually did a complete review of Bill C-18 preparing for this presentation. Our staff never really actually identified major concerns with any of the other changes or amendments. We know there are a lot of modernization aspects to the other acts that are just bringing them up

Agriculture committee  We don't have any policy on the fines for food processors so I'd prefer not to comment.

Agriculture committee  Okay, thank you, Mr. Allen. We would want to be involved in part of that process of regulatory development. My understanding is that the way legislation is meant to be designed is that it provides a framework and then through regulations you have the flexibility to adapt through

Agriculture committee  Good afternoon. I'm Doug Chorney, president of Manitoba's Keystone Agricultural Producers. I'm pleased to have an opportunity to speak to you today about Bill C-18, the agricultural growth act. While I recognize that this bill improves and modernizes nine existing acts, it's the

Environment committee  I actually think there's a good example in North Dakota and Minnesota, where the Red River Basin Commission has actually implemented these kinds of ideas. They've had really good landowner cooperation. In some cases they've actually, as you suggest, acquired the properties and ma

Environment committee  The ALUS program laid out an excellent template to provide an incentive, where you'd look at the public benefit and the value to the public and the cost to the landowner to comply with the environmental outcome you're trying to achieve. It has to make sense for the landowner, a

Environment committee  I think wetland restoration is an important issue, and there is a lot of talk amongst producers in conservation districts here in the province about how they can work in that vein. But we have to take a total watershed approach. If Manitoba did everything perfectly, it would no

Environment committee  I think we know for certain that the incentive approach is by far the most effective. We have a responsibility, as well, to show leadership on this front. We're doing things such as partnering with municipal governments and leaders on the Lake Friendly Initiative to clean up Lake

Environment committee  Invasive species can mean wildlife as well as plants. Certainly with climate change we are seeing a new spectrum of problem weeds in crops that we haven't necessarily had to deal with so much in the past. We're also seeing some insect issues that are unique to climate change, wit

Environment committee  Thank you. Yes, I think it's pretty fair to say that, no, there's no controversy about the fact that the climate is changing. The causes of climate change could be subject to great debate and controversy. Do we need to be cognizant of how this affects our environment as farmers?

Environment committee  I would. I think that would make a lot of sense. We do draw a lot of comparisons to the environmental farm planning process and how we had policy that drove that process. It was a relatively new thing a dozen years ago for producers to engage in environmental farm planning but it