KAP Encouraged By PC's Education Tax Announcement

Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP) says while the announcement by the PC Party of Manitoba to remove education tax from property is a positive step forward for Manitoba farmers, it should not come at the expense of quality education funding or market vulnerabilities that could be on the horizon.

 

This after KAP made equitable education funding a key priority in lobbying efforts for the provincial election campaign.

 

“We’re encouraged to see that the PC Party of Manitoba has committed to begin a process to remove the education tax on property, which is a policy for which farmers and producers have advocated for quite some time,” said KAP President Bill Campbell. “However, KAP also believes that the next provincial government needs to take steps to ensure that rural and urban students continue to have equitable access to educational opportunities, and that this move doesn’t represent a long-term cut to the education system.”

 

The PC Party of Manitoba has committed to removing the education tax on property over a ten-year period beginning in 2022.

 

KAP says this is a positive step for Manitoba farmers; however, this also means that farmers will continue to pay more than their fair share of education funding for up to 12 years. The group adds that a ten-year shift in education funding also means that a future provincial government could rescind this decision given the arbitrary timeline and any number of financial pressures that could come into play.

 

KAP noted that the current education funding system in Manitoba is not equitable; by allowing local school boards to set the mill rate, per-student funding in school divisions across the province varies significantly due to differences in divisional property tax bases. The organization says this means that students in divisions with higher property values have access to more funding, and more opportunities, than students in divisions with lower property values.

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.