Overview of ILO issues in Manitoba
Livestock
Hogs
With the disappearance of the Crow Rate in the early 1990's, which subsidized grain transport across the prairies and the implementation of deregulatory measures such as the removal of a single desk for marketing hogs (pdf), Manitoba paved the way for major hog expansion. This expansion was created through the subsidization of a new "state of the art" Maple Leaf Pork slaughterhouse facility located in Brandon Manitoba, capable of killing up to five million hogs a year by running two shifts.
In response to the Maple Leaf facility, the Sierra Club Prairie Chapter and Westman Community Action Coalition initiated an independent investigation to look at the potential impacts of large-scale hog production and processing in Manitoba. The Commissioners' Report on the Citizens' Hearing on Hog Production and the Environment traced the problems of the hog industry in other parts of North America and predicted similarities will be mirrored in Manitoba. This gathering of like-minded citizens and organizations also served as a catalyst towards the creation of Hog Watch Manitoba a coalition of environmental groups, farmers, friends of animals, social justice advocates, trade unionists and scientists concerned about the industrialization of livestock raising in Manitoba.
To placate this growing movement, the Manitoba Government conducted a token review of the sustainability of the industry in late 2000 and concluded that even though little is known about the environmental and community impacts of the hog industry in Manitoba, the industry can continue to expand as long as there is enough monitoring and enforcement.
Manitoba now leads all provinces in hogs marketed, and as of 2006 marketed nearly 9 million hogs for that year. This is a 285% increase from a decade ago.
Maple Leaf Pork is now restructuring its entire Canadian Pork division and will concentrate most of its Canadian hog operations in Manitoba. The Maple Leaf slaughterhouse will expand to a full second shift killing 100,000 hogs per week by 2009 pending an environmental review. An earlier review and hearing was conducted in 2003 which allowed Maple Leaf to increase their kill capacity from one shift of 50,000 hogs per week to 75,000.
Recently Hytek, Olymel and Big Sky Pork proposed a venture that would see similar "state of the art" hog slaughterhouse and rendering plant built in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Known as OlyWest the facility will be capable of killing up to 4.5 million hogs per year with two shifts. Strong local opposition from groups such as the Concerned Citizens Coalition, OlyOpp Alliance and Animal Watch combined with a high Canadian dollar has placed the project on hold. Both Olymel and Big Sky Pork have since withdrawn from the venture.
To mollify the current government's lackluster environmental and agricultural tract record and the fact that Lake Winnipeg is in a state of eutrophication (pdf) from excess phosphorus runoff, the Minister of Conservation issued a "temporary pause" on new or expanded hog operations that utilize liquid manure systems and has charged(pdf) the Manitoba Clean Environment Commission to conduct a review of the sustainability of the hog industry.