MCPA issues appeal to Manitoba Members of Parliament to show leadership

by Matthew Wright

The Manitoba Cattle Producers Association issued letters to Manitoba’s 14 Members of Parliament, seeking action on a number of pressing issues facing the province’s nearly 10,000 cattle producing families.

The Association’s letter outlined three main areas that cattle producers need immediate action on in order to avert the possible loss of thousands of family farms in Manitoba.

A lack of action on the issues of international trade, COOL legislation in the U.S., and income tax deferrals for producers in disaster areas continue to have grave economic consequences to the provincial rural landscape.

The need for expanded trade is undeniable. Approximately 92% of all Canadian agricultural producers are either dependent on export markets or have their commodity prices determined by international markets. With agricultural producers and rural communities in Western Canada so heavily dependent on trade, it is essential that the federal government support an aggressive tariff reduction strategy to the WTO.

The MCPA is strongly urging Manitoba MPs to support a balanced trade agreement that will deliver benefits to all agricultural sectors; and is also asking all MPs to present a strong, united stand against mandatory Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) in the U.S. The move in the U.S. to adopt COOL constitutes a flagrant trade violation under both NAFTA and WTO trade rules and not supported by the National Cattlemen’s Association in the U.S.

The MCPA also approached both the provincial and federal governments in August seeking a deferral of income taxes payable by producers who have been forced to sell off cattle due to a shortage of feed, precipitated by last summer’s wet weather conditions.

While the current Income Tax Act allows farmers affected by drought to defer taxable income to the next year, the same does not apply to regions affected by flood. The MCPA is strongly urging all Manitoba MPs to lobby for changes to the Income Tax Act./span>