Skip to main content

Standing up for farmers and standing against the Pallister cuts to the Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation

This afternoon in the Manitoba Legislature, I stood up to talk on behalf of farmers in Manitoba and against the planned Pallister cuts to the Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation.  My remarks are below:

Jon Gerrard: MLA-River Heights:I stand today on this Grievance on behalf of the farmers of Manitoba.   The provincial government is looking to cut staff positions and salary costs at the Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation, also known as MASC.  The government should not do this, and there are multiple reasons why the government should not do this.

First there is an urgent need for the Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation at this moment.   Last year was a very tough year for many farmers. I understand there is a back log of more than 500 outstanding post-harvest claims that need urgent attention. There is urgency in resolving these claims as many farmers are out seeding now.  It can’t wait.

Add to this, there are additional claims from this year where farmers were not able to harvest last fall and have harvested the remainder of their crop this spring   A considerable proportion of those crops will need to be assessed.  And farmers in spring can’t tolerate wait times.  They need to get their crop in.  If MASC is not working well and quickly when farmers need their help it is a big problem.  We do not need and do not want the Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation to be e-MASC-ulated.  

Add to this, today farmers are seeding and very soon the crops will be growing.  We hope there are not major problems with hail this year, but if there are, MASC will be needed, and there can be a big demand on MASC services if it is a bad hail year.  This is NOT the time to cutback on MASC services!

Second, MASC has an outstanding record of performance and achievement and service to farmers. I have talked to many farmers and it is rare to find a farmer who is not thankful for what used to be Crop Insurance and is now a MASC agri-insurance program. Indeed, I have been told by one long-time farmer that the MASC programs are the most important programs for farmers.   In a tribute to MASC – one farmer -told me -talking to me on his cell phone as he was seeding – that he has not met even one farmer who has hesitated to put in a crop this year – even with all the uncertainty about the COVID-19 situation.  Farmers are not hesitating because they know MASC is there for them.  That is one of the biggest tributes I can say in support of MASC.  MASC has essentially been the insurer – the securer of our home grown food supply – and the food supply from Manitoba which is exported around the world and which is so important to people all over the world.   I say to the Premier – Do not let Manitoba farmers down by cutting back on MASC.   It is working well.   Farmers tell me they do not see any frills in MASC.  They are already a lean operation.  In my experience if you have a program with a really good track record and which is running well, don’t mess with it and cause problems which we don’t need.  Programs like MASC are an example of how a helpful government program can be run.

Third MASC is a lean program and is constantly improving its programs and services and using more digital delivery of services.  It does not make sense to arbitrarily cut a lean and efficiently run service.  A number of years ago, there was a technology switch at MASC so that adjusters were working with lap top computers and MASC did cut back on the number of employees who were keying in data because they were not needed as much any more.  There was a business case then for cutbacks and they were done.   THERE IS NO BUSINESS CASE FOR CUTBACKS TO MASC NOW.

Fourth, MASC is currently in the middle of a technology transformation.  It is a massive job.   The government should not be cutting back staff at MASC in the middle of this transformation.  It involves a lot of extra training.  It involves major adjustments to the work and this is not a time to be cutting people when the people are badly needed by and for the organization.

Fifth, most MASC programs are run with a combination of federal and provincial dollars. It is important that Manitoba is able to deliver programs like Agri-stability and Agri-insurance well on behalf of both governments.  I say to the Premier please do not put us in a position where farmers have trouble accessing federal as well as provincial programs.

Sixth, we are in the middle of a pandemic.  Now is not the time to be cutting staff and destabilizing people’s lives. Indeed MASC is needed at full strength right now, - - not just to deal with the backlog, - not just to deal with the technology transformation - but specifically because there is added need for flexibility in the response to the pandemic.  People at MASC have adjusted with more people working from home though adjusting and lending staff are still going out to meet farmers while following full physical distancing guidelines.  The cabinet may want to run a new program through MASC to help farmers manage the difficult situation – for example with falling beef prices.   Flexibility and rapidity of response are critical during the COVID-19 pandemic. You do not want to cut the very people who are so critical in helping with the pandemic response.  I say to the Premier – “Do not cut the people who are so essential to farmers producing our food supply during this COVID-19 pandemic.”

Madame Speaker, I talked to one farmer who had this to say.  He said he had heard that the Premier was calling for MASC to make cutbacks.   He said “I would be hard pressed to see where the Premier’s coming from”  He added: “I am not sure what message the Premier and his government are sending by making cutbacks to MASC – but I, as a farmer, don’t like the message.”

Madame Speaker, I speak today on this critical matter – the future of MASC and the critical need for MASC, the Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation, to be fully staffed and fully operation at this most critical of years for all of us.  I ask the Premier – does he really want to be know from now on – by farmer, and by Manitobans – as the Chief E-MASC-ulator.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Dougald Lamont speaks at Meth Forum last night to present positive ideas to address the epidemic, while exposing the lack of action by the Pallister Conservatives

Last night at the Notre Dame Recreation Centre in St. Boniface, at an Election Forum on the Meth Crisis in Manitoba, Dougald Lamont spoke eloquently about the severity of the meth epidemic and described the Liberal plan to address it.  The Liberal Plan will make sure that there is a single province-wide phone number for people, or friends of people, who need help dealing with meth to call (as there is in Alberta) and that there will be rapid access to a seamless series of steps - stabilization, detoxification, treatment, extended supportive housing etc so that people with meth addiction can be helped well and effectively and so that they can rebuild their lives.  The Liberal meth plan will be helped by our approach to mental health (putting psychological therapies under medicare), and to poverty (providing better support).  It will also be helped by our vigorous efforts to help young people understand the problems with meth in our education system and to provide alternative positive

Manitoba Liberal accomplishments

  Examples of Manitoba Liberal accomplishments in the last three years Ensured that 2,000 Manitoba fishers were able to earn a living in 2020   (To see the full story click on this link ). Introduced a bill that includes retired teachers on the Pension Investment Board which governs their pension investments. Introduced amendments to ensure school aged children are included in childcare and early childhood education plans moving forward. Called for improvements in the management of the COVID pandemic: ·          We called for attention to personal care homes even before there was a single case in a personal care home. ·            We called for a rapid response team to address outbreaks in personal care homes months before the PCs acted.  ·          We called for a science-based approach to preparing schools to   improve ventilation and humidity long before the PCs acted. Helped hundreds of individuals with issues during the pandemic including those on social assistance

The Indigenous Science Conference in Winnipeg June 14-16

  June 14 to 16, I spent three days at the Turtle Island Indigenous Science Conference.  It was very worthwhile.   Speaker after speaker talked of the benefits of using both western or mainstream science and Indigenous science.  There is much we can learn from both approaches.   With me above is Myrle Ballard, one of the principal organizers of the conference.  Myrle Ballard, from Lake St. Martin in Manitoba, worked closely with Roger Dube a professor emeritus at Rochester Institute of Technology, and many others to make this conference, the first of its kind, a success.  As Roger Dube, Mohawk and Abenaki, a physicist, commented "My feeling is that the fusion of traditional ecological knowledge and Western science methodology should rapidly lead the researchers to much more holistic solutions to problems."   Dr. Myrle Ballard was the first person from her community to get a PhD.  She is currently a professor at the University of Manitoba and the Director of Indigenous Science