H2O: Ideas & Action for Canada's Water

Hog Watch Manitoba, a group formed in 1999 to monitor the hog industry in the province, is being reconvened due to public concerns. A steering committee  has met in Portage La Prairie to make plans for the group’s current work. Many people have expressed alarm at plans by the Pallister government to lift the moratorium on new hog barns, imposed by the previous NDP government in 2006. They fear the Premier’s move to “reduce red tape” will lead to more pollution, threatening our waterways and even human health.
• Will government will do away with rules preventing the spreading of manure on fields in the winter? Winter spreading has been shown to result in more waste escaping into surface water. In 2007, the Clean Environment Commission found that hog wastes spread on fields as a nutrient, “constitute the most serious environmental sustainability issues facing the industry.”
• Hog Watch wants the government to explain what has changed since 2007 that would justify a relaxation of regulations now.
• Hog Watch will ask for meetings with cabinet ministers most directly involved with the proposed changes and seek assurances that rules protecting the public and the environment will be preserved.