On Monday March 15, I spoke in response to a Ministerial statement on Canadian Agricultural Safety Week. On Tuesday March 16, I spoke in response to a second Ministerial statement on Agriculture Awareness Day. My comments are below (from Hansard).
Canadian Agricultural Safety Week
Mr. Gerrard: Canadian Agricultural Safety Week is a very important week. It's a week to acknowledge the important work that farmers in Manitoba do, the help they provide, the food
provide, and to reflect on efforts to improve farm safety in our province.
From the number of older farmers in
Manitoba, it sure looks to be a safe occupation, but when you look a little
closer, a 2017 report in Manitoba says, and I quote, the most dangerous work in
Manitoba is in the agricultural sector. Agriculture has had more deaths in the
past decade than any other sector. Between 2006 and 2015, 48 deaths occurred in
the agricultural sector.
There are much more than just
deaths impacting health in the agricultural sector. The impact of using
chemicals, including pesticides, the impact of stress on mental health is
widespread from surveys of farmers. This has been exacerbated for some farmers,
who are farming on Crown lands, this year by the changes in the government
policies.
We have to be aware of what's
happening with COVID-19 and the fact that in Ontario, migrant workers were at
increased risk of getting COVID-19. I looked at the Manitoba Centre for Health
Policy for an assessment of health in our agricultural community, and I was not
able to find it. But, clearly, it is important.
Agriculture Awareness Day
Mr. Gerrard: Yes,
Madam Speaker, agricultural awareness day is very important. Indeed, rarely has
there ever been such a great need to create better understanding between those
in the agricultural industry and all other Manitobans.
During the COVID pandemic, our
agriculture and agri-food industry performed in an outstanding
fashion, providing a reliable source of food, and they did an incredible job.
This needs to be recognized, and the agricultural community is to be thanked.
We have, at the same time,
government bills on petty trespassing and biosecurity. And the government needs
to do a much better job of explaining these bills, not just to those in the
agricultural community, but to the general public, because there is a lot of
potential for misunderstandings and problems.
At the moment, in getting markets
around the world, markets are changing their approach and highlighting the
environmental aspects and the animal husbandry aspects of the production of
food. In this climate, we need to have much more emphasis on climate change,
but we also need to be promoting what the agricultural industry is doing and providing
even better mechanisms for them to get 'cardon'–carbon credits for sequestering
carbon.
Animal husbandry is increasingly
very important in the marketing of our products, and we need to be recognized
for excellence in this area. Sadly, one of the things this government has done
is to create incredible stress in the area of producers who are–have been on
Crown lands. The government should retract measures which are causing the
stress and address this.
Farm safety, as we talked about
yesterday, is incredibly important, and we have a long way to go to improve
the health of those in the agricultural industry and to make sure that people
are safe.
So I say thank you, along with
other MLAs, to all those in the agriculture and agri-food industries. Thank
you, thank you, merci, miigwech.
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