GM’S MESSAGE
Consultation fatigue –
what really tires us out
BY PATTY ROSHER, KAP GENERAL MANAGER
Opinions. We all have them and some of us
really like to share them. We used to read
opinions in letters to the editor, but now we
have Twitter. Five hundred million tweets
are sent each day. That’s 6,000 tweets every
second. Mercy.
KAP works hard to gather the opinion of its members on
Feedback and analysis should drive the policy and program
work governments do, too. We get asked for our opinion a lot.
This spring, our board and staff attended consultations or made
submissions about once a week. All submissions are posted on
our website and we welcome any feedback.
But our experience has been that not all consultations
seem genuine. In fact, quite a bit of our advocacy work this
summer has been to speak up where consultations were
inadequate. Two cases in point: drainage regulations and
seed royalty discussions.
Drainage regulations down the drain
In November 2018, Manitoba Sustainable Development
launched consultations on drainage regulations. The regulations
would, among other things, require compensation from
farmers for draining temporary Class 3 wetlands.
In May, we joined with parties on all sides of the discussion
to send a letter to the minister of the department, asking
that the regulations not be signed as drafted – and that
the provincial government publish all submissions received
through public consultation and the analysis performed by
the department.
I thought the provincial government would be ecstatic
seeing that kind of co-operation. We were assured that “the
department appreciates the many thoughtful comments and
is carefully considering the comments received.” However,
there was no response to our specific request.
Seed royalties – not there yet
Industry-wide consultations on “value creation” in the cereal
grains sector began in fall 2018. The conversation started
with a focus on two potential models: end-point royalties or
trailing contracts.
KAP and its partners weren’t satisfied with the farmer
involvement in the consultation process and the lack of
business case that defined the need and the return on
investment for farmers.
policy to programs to member benefits. We are fortunate to
have a democratic process and resolutions that directly drive
the work we do. We gather feedback through social media, our
With that in mind, KAP partnered with the Agricultural
policy roundtable, and our website. And we perform extensive
Producers Association of Saskatchewan and the Alberta
research and analysis. Federation of Agriculture to launch our own consultation
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Manitoba Farmers’ Voice § Fall 2019 § 39