Manitoba cooperator

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Quota conundrum

Canada Counts

Small farmers say chicken quota changes hurt » PG 3

Consumers say they seek Canadian meat » PG 37

SERVING MANITOBA FARMERS SINCE 1925 | Vol. 74,  No. 46 | $1.75

November 17, 2016

Flood resilience increasing as jurisdictions co-operate: ARBI By pulling the pieces of the puzzle together, a better and more co-ordinated approach is possible

manitobacooperator.ca

Trump’s triumph turns to ag trade trepidation The U.S. president-elect has threatened to tear up the $1-trillion-a-year North American Free Trade Agreement and says he won’t ratify the Trans-Pacific Partnership

BY LORRAINE STEVENSON Co-operator staff/Minot

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looding remains a persistent threat, but some farmers and landowners living along the Assiniboine, Souris and Qu’Appelle rivers and their tributaries are now better prepared for the next occurrence. Since 2011 five municipalities along with the City of Brandon, working in Manitoba’s Upper Assiniboine Conservation District, have funded and built several new small dams and other water retention projects along the Arrow-Oak river and within the Assiniboine-Birdtail watersheds. Those projects began after creating a watership management plan and priority setting that reflected common ground among local landowners and municipalities, said Ryan Canart, CD manager. “We want to reduce the velocity of water and hopefully the impact of silt loading in to the river,” he said, adding that the common ground agreed on going forward was that everyone wants swimmable, drinkable, See FLOODING on page 7 »

President-elect Donald Trump won a surprise victory Nov. 8, partly on promises to tear up trade deals like NAFTA.   PHOTO: Creative Commons/Gage Skidmore

BY ALLAN DAWSON Co-operator staff

Publication Mail Agreement 40069240

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a n a d a’s t r a d e - d e p e n d e n t economy, including agriculture, could be collateral damage in Donald Trump’s battle to make America great again. The president-elect says he’ll pull out of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) if it can’t be renegotiated to give the U.S. a better deal.

He also says he won’t ratify the TransPacific Partnership ( TPP), which would almost assuredly kill the trade agreement that would encompass 40 per cent of the world’s economy. But agriculture and trade representatives on both sides of the border believe Trump’s protectionist bark is worse than his bite. Before being elected president both Barack Obama and Bill Clinton criticized NAFTA too. “I wouldn’t hit the panic button just

yet,” Cereals Canada president Cam Dahl said in an interview Nov. 9, the day after Trump surprised most of the world by beating Hillary Clinton. “Both of our countries have substantially grown around that agreement and it goes well beyond agriculture. I simply can’t imagine Canada and the U.S. without free-flowing trade.” But during the first presidential See TRUMP on page 6 »

TRADE TROUBLES: Trade liberalization seems out of style » PAGE 22


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