Manitoba cooperator

Page 1

Pressing business

High stakes

Local variations are driving interest in premium oil » PG 3

TPP trade talks have high stakes and big risks » PG 8

SERVING MANITOBA FARMERS SINCE 1925 | Vol. 75, No. 49 | $1.75

December 7, 2017

Municipalities have questions on cannabis rollout Municipalities have less than a month to say ‘yea or nay’

manitobacooperator.ca

Province tables Sustainable Watersheds Act

Incentives would be offered landowners who protect wetlands and adopt other beneficial land management practices

BY ALEXIS STOCKFORD Co-operator staff

M

unicipalities are scram­ bling after news that the province expects them to make a decision on cannabis by Dec. 22. Blaine Pedersen, minister of growth, enterprise, and trade, announced Nov. 28 that munici­ palities must decide if they will allow marijuana sales by the De­ cember deadline. “It’s tight timelines and we sort of apologize for that, but at the same time it’s the federal gov­ ernment that’s pushing this. We have to have this ready for July 2, so we don’t have any alternative on this,” Pedersen said, adding that the timeline also takes the issue off the board for any mu­ nicipal elections next year. The federal government will legalize marijuana as of July 1, 2018, while the province has said stores in Manitoba will open July 2. The announcement, made during the Association of Mani­ toba Municipalities convention in Brandon, set local govern­ ments on their heels and several have since raised concern that they will be making a decision

Manitoba is getting new legislation aimed at protecting watersheds in the province.  PHOTO: Alexis Stockford

See cannabis on page 6 »

BY LORRAINE STEVENSON Co-operator staff

Publication Mail Agreement 40069240

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ew water legislation tabled last week lays the foundation for an ecological goods and serv­ ices program for Manitoba, say pro­ vincial ministers. The Growing Outcomes in Water­ s h e d s ( G R OW ) p r o g r a m w o u l d offer farmers and other landowners incentives for farm practices that protect wetlands and promote bet­ ter land management. It is based on the Alternative Land Use Services (ALUS) model proposed nearly 20 years ago by Keystone Agricultural Producers and the Delta Waterfowl Foundation. It’s now part of the government’s

proposed Sustainable Watersheds Act now being introduced as its first step toward implementing a Made-inManitoba Climate and Green Plan. KAP president Dan Mazier said farmers are uniquely positioned to provide the flood mitigation, car­ bon sequestration, nutrient capture and habitat protection, the province seeks. He sees this approach as more holistic than any he’s seen in the past. “From this farmer’s point of view, it’s a really positive change for the province,” he said. Mazier said it is important that farmers have a continued say in the development of this program right through to regulations. It’s impera­ tive they be involved in determin­ ing where the best value for the dol­

lars invested in this program can be found, he said. “How a program like GROW is going to work is in the regulations,” he said. “We definitely have to keep working with the province and the environ­ mental community and with soci­ ety discovering what these projects should look like and what’s the best bang for the buck. I cannot empha­ size that enough. That was the origi­ nal intent of the ALUS program and it’s key to any (ecological goods and services) program.”

Rewarding diligence GROW “would incentivize agricul­ tural producers and other land­ owners to participate through best See Watersheds Act on page 7 »

PRECISION PIGS: FEEDER A MORE EFFICIENT SOLUTION » PAGE 15


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