Manitobans heading to the polls next month

Sep 05, 2023

Farms.com will highlight ag in party platforms as they become available

By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com

Manitobans will head to voting booths next month for the province’s 43^rd general election.

Voting day is Oct. 3, and Premier Heather Stefanson is expected to officially make the election call on Tuesday, multiple outlets report.

This will be Stefanson’s first election as PC Manitoba leader after taking over from Brian Pallister following his retirement.

For the PCs, they’ll be looking to hold onto the majority government the party earned in 2019 with 36 seats.

Wab Kinew and the Manitoba NDP formed the official opposition with 18 seats in 2019. Dougald Lamont and the Manitoba Liberal Party won three seats but fell one short of official party status.

Party platforms are not yet available on the provincial PC, NDP or Liberal party sites.

But once they are, Farms.com will comb through the documents to let Manitoba producers know how each party plans to support the ag sector.

Derek Johnson, the MLA for Interlake-Gimli and current minister of agriculture will be looking to hold onto the seat he’s held since 2016.

And Diljeet Brar, the NDP’s ag critic, won his seat in Burrows since 2019.

Recent polling suggests this election could be a close one between Stefanson and Kinew’s parties.

“Province-wide, 41 per cent of decided voters would cast ballots for Premier Heather Stefanson and the PCs, - up three points since March 2023 and six points since December 2022,” June 2023 data from Probe Research says. “Support for Wab Kinew’s NDP, meanwhile, has slid three points since March (41 per cent down from 44 per cent).”

Video: How women saved agricultural economics and other ideas for why diversity matters | Jill J. McCluskey

Dr. Jill J. McCluskey, Regents Professor at Washington State University and Director of the School of Economic Science

Dr. McCluskey documents that women entered agricultural economics in significant numbers starting in the 1980s, and their ranks have increased over time. She argues that women have increased the relevance in the field of agricultural economics through their diverse interests, perspectives, and experiences. In their research, women have expanded the field's treatment of non-traditional topics such as food safety and nutrition and environmental and natural resource economics. In this sense, women saved the Agricultural Economics profession from a future as a specialty narrowly focused on agricultural production and markets. McCluskey will go on to discuss some of her own story and how it has shaped some of her thinking and research. She will present her research on dual-career couples in academia, promotional achievement of women in both Economics and Agricultural Economics, and work-life support programs.

The Daryl F. Kraft Lecture is arranged by the Department of Agribusiness and Agricultural Economics, with the support of the Solomon Sinclair Farm Management Institute, and in cooperation with the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences.