Manitoba NDP appoints ag critic

Oct 01, 2019

Diljeet Brar will serve as the critic for agriculture, as well as for sport, culture and heritage

By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com

Manitoba’s official opposition unveiled its shadow cabinet to counter the Premier Brian Pallister’s Conservative government.

“Our new team is proud to look like Manitoba, and we plan to use every tool at our disposal to hold the Pallister government to account,” NDP Leader Wab Kinew said in a statement Friday.

“We will continue to oppose (Premier) Pallister’s health care crisis, which has caused chaos for patients and health care workers. We will fight back against his plan to make deep cuts to education, which will hurt students and teachers. And we will do our part to help solve the climate crisis while keeping life affordable for families.”

Kinew selected 17 MLAs to join him in the shadow cabinet.

He appointed Diljeet Brar, the rookie MLA for Burrows, to keep tabs on Agriculture Minister Ralph Eichler. Brar replaces Ted Macelino, who lost his seat in the Tyndall Park riding.

The new ag critic grew up in India, where he earned a master’s degree in education and taught at the Agricultural University in Punjab. After arriving in Manitoba in 2014, he worked for Manitoba Agriculture as an extension coordinator in Arborg and Beausejour until 2018. He also volunteered as a 4-H Club liaison in the Interlake region.

Brar will also serve as the critic for sport, culture and heritage opposite Minister Cathy Cox’s portfolio.

Other members of Kinew’s shadow cabinet include Matt Wiebe as the critic for finance and Tom Lindsey as the critic for growth, enterprise and trade.

Farms.com has reached out to Brar for comment on his appointment as ag critic and what his priorities are for the upcoming legislative session.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.