Farmscape for September 22, 2021
The General Manager of Manitoba Pork says the province's pork producers responded to the call to engage with federal election candidates and their voices were heard but there was little in terms of strong agricultural policies or discussion of agricultural issues.
During the period leading up to the September 20 federal election, pork producers were called on to engage with candidates representing all parties to express the concerns of both agriculture in general and their sector in particular and build an awareness of the issues.
Cam Dahl, the General Manager of Manitoba Pork, says farmers did make their voices heard.
Clip-Cam Dahl-Manitoba Pork:
The overwhelming most important part of the message that we needed to have delivered is just how important agriculture is to the Canadian economy and to Manitoba in particular.
As we go further on in time, we're seeing fewer and fewer people having that direct connection and direct understanding of the farm and modern agriculture and it really is important to have all MPs understand how important our industry is, in terms of jobs, economic growth and of course feeding the country and many countries around the world.
That was the overwhelming message.
Why was it important to have farmers deliver it?
It's because they're voters and to have MPs hear that strong message from people who will be casting a ballot for them or not, that message really hits home and helps establish relationships for now, after the election when we see our MPs go back to Ottawa.
Dahl says we did get a good response from farmers and farmers' voices were heard, especially in the rural ridings, but unfortunately what didn't see was really strong agricultural policies or a discussion of agriculture during the campaign.
He acknowledges that's not something that most people have a strong connection to and that's something that will need to worked on after the election.
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Bruce Cochrane.
*Farmscape is a presentation of Wonderworks Canada Inc.
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