A FOREIGN LOGGING CORPORATION CONTINUES TO HAVE ITS WAY WITH MANITOBA'S BEAUTIFUL DUCK MOUNTAIN PARK. THE WILDERNESS COMMITTEE BLOWS THE WHISTLE.

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THE TIPPING POINT APPROACHETH.

I wrote this letter a couple of years ago about a road construction project past my door. I realize it was a "minority" if not an "oddball" position to be taking. Now that our world is descending, and not so slowly anymore, into a kind of Hell on earth, with wildfire smoke insinuating iself in your lungs and mine, how oddball do I seem now?

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If ever there was an example of just how numb we are to the planetary crisis we are now in, it’s surely playing out in plain sight right here, right now, in Shoal Lake. As many of my neighbours will already know, big dump trucks have been lumbering by on the street in front of our homes for about a week now. Beginning before dawn, they sometimes approach a steady stream that lasts all day until about dusk. 

The mine supplying the raw product has been expanding for years along the banks of the Birdtail River. I’ve been out there a few times over the past few years. I’ve captured dramatic shots of the copious dust it kicks up when in full operational mode (visit PlanetInPeril.ca) and heard the clamour of the machines echoing up and down an otherwise peaceful valley. Prevailing westerlies carry the dust right over (and no doubt into) the river water. Such sediment has long been proven to be bad news for fish and other aquatic life. 

This seems to matter not, however. Neither does the fact that internal combustion engines are big contributors of greenhouse gases and climate change (which the experts predict will be in “runaway mode,” or beyond our ability to turn around, in about a decade). 

Apparently, we are also supposed to ignore the medical fact that being exposed to diesel fumes, even for a short time, can cause coughing, eye, nose, throat irritation. Long-term exposure, can lead to serious health effects, including cancer. So just how long will this highway “improvement” project last? I have no idea, do you? 

And, by the way, did you take part in the vote that gave them our permission to do this? Oh, that’s right! There wasn’t one, was there?

"OF PORK & POTATOES" - A REVIEW

 By Larry Powell

This book should be required reading for anyone who is concerned about the way hogs are raised in Manitoba. And that goes double for those who may still actually believe there's nothing to be concerned about. 

Manitoba author Bill Massey (above) grew up in a troubled family with an abusive father. Despite all this, or perhaps because of it, he emerged with a heightened sense of what was fair and what was not. His toughness and perseverance would serve him well in the face of the challenges which lay ahead - ones he could not have possibly imagined. 

Bill and his wife Dorothy have, for years, raised chickens and a few hogs on their little farm near Grosse Isle, northwest of Winnipeg. Both have also been teachers, he, a principal and an advocate for abused children. 

In 2004, their lives would change, and not for the better. A nearby hog barn, operated by a Hutterite colony, announced it planned to expand. Right away, Bill smelled trouble ahead. And he was right. In the years since, that operation has proven to be an intrusive neighbour which is still leaving a legacy of stink and pollution. 

Bill soon emerged as a leader in a community trying to do something about the excesses of the hog factory. But he and his allies were to learn a bitter lesson -  that neither governments, nor politicians nor bureaucrats were on their side.  Their job was to serve the interests of the colony and make its operation a commercial success. Period. 

One telling paragraph in Bill's book confirms as much. Former government bureaucrats had told him, privately, their job was to help producers (in this case the colony) find their way around government regulations. 

It became difficult to impossible for Bill's group to even find out how many hogs were being housed in the facility at any one time. They were confronted with a confusing array of rules that either shifted depending on who they asked, or were ignored when convenient to the colony. For example, there were no penalties if they incorrectly filled out manure management plans which are supposed to include herd numbers. 

Bill's years-long fight cost him friends both within and outside of the colony. Yet, he carries on, to this day, after being let down by successive governments, both of NDP & Conservative persuasion. Even the Manitoba ombudsman, supposedly the last defence for this province's citizens against over-reach by government or industry, failed to support them.

 

Bill meticulously documents the series of events which occurred in his campaign over about 17 years, intertwining it with the reality that was his own, turbulent childhood. 

It's a fascinating read. 

To buy this book, just click here and scroll down. 

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Only 1% of British Columbia's old growth forests remain, researchers find (Video)

More than five million deaths a year can be attributed to abnormal hot and cold temperatures

Monash University - Science Daily

The Sparks fire during an historic heatwave in BC, Canada.
A BC Wildfire Service photo June 20-21.

The world's largest study of global climate related mortality found deaths related to hot temperatures increased in all regions from 2000 to 2019, indicating that global warming due to climate change will make this mortality figure worse in the future. The international research team looked at mortality and temperature data across the world.    Story here.

A VOICE OF EXPERIENCE CAUTIONS AGAINST ANOTHER HOG BARN IN MANITOBA

Bill Massey - author of, "Of Pork & Potatoes - a memoir"

Massey made the presentation, below, to a Conditional Use Hearing at the RM of Westlake-Gladstone Municipality on July 8th 2021.  

Thank you for the opportunity to speak at this hearing.  My name is Bill Massey and I have led a group called the Concerned Citizens of Grosse Isle in our struggle with a hog barn in our community.  I have written a book called Of Pork & Potatoes that chronicles the events of the past 15 years in our community.  I’ve been asked to speak by members of your municipality and I’m hoping my remarks will be helpful.

I want to begin by describing the issue of odour that our community experienced.  People have been unable to enjoy their properties or care for their yards because of the smell.  Some of them had even confined themselves to their homes.  Others had disconnected fresh air intakes on air conditioning units to attempt to minimize the odor.  People without air conditioning and with young children are particularly hard hit.  We realized what we were up against on one very cold day putting up Christmas lights on the outside of the house, the light southwest wind carrying the smell from the barn.  It was extreme, to say the least, and felt acidic in your nose and throat.  We were driven indoors and had to wait until the wind shifted the next day before we could finish putting up our lights.

When it comes to smell you will be told by the provincial government that it’s your responsibility and yours alone.  People will come to you and expect you to do something about this problem. Those people are your friends, neighbours and constituents.  The government will be of no help to you because unfortunately they have given up their role as a regulator of the industry and are simply an enabler.  It got to the extent with our committee that the provincial government actually urged the municipal government to ignore their own bylaws and allow the producer to have more hogs in their operation than was permitted under the Planning Act.  You can imagine the difficulty that that created for a council facing a number of angry people demanding answers.  When I confronted the provincial government on this behavior they backed down somewhat but that was no help to the council and for our group, the damage was done.  You can read the exchange of letters between our group and the provincial government on this matter on my blog, billmassey.ca.

I just heard a news item in the media that stated that morale among staff in Conservation was very low and the government was having trouble filling positions.  That does not surprise me in the least. It is common knowledge that former conservation officers have suggested that their role in the department was to help the producer find their way around the regulations.  There have been a number of conservation people who have gone over to the hog industry and the pork council over the years, the former head of the Pork Council being one of them.  I would seriously question the validity of the technical review and get an outside opinion if I were you.  Just recently at Landmark Manitoba, the technical review gave the green light to a development ½ mile outside the community!  Landmark is a town as big or bigger than Gladstone. How can that be valid in anyone’s mind?

I want to talk about the social costs of a development like the one you are considering.  This developer is not from the community.  They have no allegiance to the people who live there.  Its one thing when the producer is a local person and has relationships with the people living around the barn, but when that is not part of the process, it becomes much more difficult for the community to deal with this problem.  These corporations usually offer minimum wage and local people usually won’t work in these unhealthy situations.  We know of situations in the province where workers are brought in from third world countries to work in these barns. I feel these people, because of their circumstances, are being taken advantage of and that does not sit well with me or anyone concerned about human rights.

In our community there were people who supported the idea of a hog barn and there were those of us against it.  This causes serious conflicts among local people. This has been a problem in most communities where hog barns have been built.  It got to a point in one community, where children of people opposed to the barn were being bullied at school.  Some people were forced to sell out because they could not stand to live in the shadow of the barn.  When it comes to selling, we know that if you’re anywhere close to a hog barn your property values may fall as much as 50%.

I grew up on a small farm near Kelwood, Manitoba in a friendly and helpful community.  As neighbours we looked out for each other and tried to help out where we could.  I do the same today and that is one of the reasons why I took on the leadership of my group to try to maintain that care and concern for my neighbours.  We’re used to that attitude and we’re not used to a corporate factory farm entity that comes into our community and creates  all of this conflict and unhappiness.  This is a foreign consortium proposing this development.  The profits will go to another country while we’re left with the conflict, the pollution and the smell.

This government passed changes to the planning act called Bill 19.  In that bill they gave a government appointed body, the Municipal Board, the power to overturn municipal decisions. This is an assault on Democracy in this province. Don’t let that influence you in saying no to this development.  This government and any who follow need to understand that we do not want this industry as it’s structured now, in our communities.  Do the right thing and turn down this application.  

Thank you.

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"Confronting blatant propaganda from Manitoba's industrial hog sector"