In spring of 2021 rural Manitoba saw the closure of 21 Manitoba Agricultural Service Corporation (MASC) offices across the province, as a part of a provincial downsizing initiative by the previous government to reduce the physical footprint of agricultural services, and to shift towards virtual and phone-based support.
At that time Manitoba Agriculture and Resource Development was combined with MASC to provide a single service.
In the Westman Region, Birtle, Deloraine, Hamiota, Russell, Shoal Lake, Souris, Virden and Waskada MASC offices were included in that sweep of closures.
But through the advocacy efforts of Councillor for the RM of Pipestone, Scott Phillips, and RM of Grassland representative, Claude Martin, the re-opening of MASC offices in the southwest corner of the province were considered.
This afternoon municipal and provincial leaders are celebrating the Grand Re-opening of the Virden and Shoal Lake MASC offices to reestablish the support of a strong and diversified rural economy through a variety of financial services and risk management programs through the MASC offices.
"This is a very good day," says Scott Phillips. "This just reconfirms that the government of the day is following through on some promises on rural economic reconciliation."
Cliff Cullen’s encouragement sparked persistent lobbying efforts
On January 21, 2025 Premier Kinew and Ag Minister, Ron Kostyshyn, announced the opening of two MASC offices in the Westman Region. That announcement has come to reality today, says Phillips.
"There were a lot of jobs that were lost back then. Plus, there's a lot of areas in southern Manitoba and southwest Manitoba where these services are needed because of broadband issues, cell service issues. There are still some older farmers that aren't in the technology and there's still some young guys that want the face to face."
Phillips says they lobbied hard, but that was after former MLA for Spruce Woods, Cliff Cullen, encouraged them to push on despite the negative results year after year. "We met with Cliff Cullen and he told us don't give up boys, you've got a good idea, don't give up and we didn't give up. In fact, Cliff Cullen is the reason why I do what I do every day for Manitobans," adds Phillips.
"Cliff is a big reason we have today, the opening of these two MASC offices, because if he didn't tell us to keep going, we wouldn't have pushed the NDPs, we wouldn't pushed Ron Kostyshyn."
Phillips notes Premier Kinew and Minister Kostyshyn were very receptive to their petition and recognized the impact of the closures of these offices.
Thousands rally to reopen rural MASC offices
"We were told 'no' numerous times by the department and finally the 'no' turned to 'yes' after we just kept pleading with the report," he adds.
"We had petitions of thousands of signatures in a matter of days wanting these MASC offices reopened," adds Phillips. "So, there's the proof in the pudding right there when you have producers from all over rural Manitoba come into the offices to sign these, to get these offices opened. You know, that says something right there!"
With the support of municipalities across the Westman Region, Phillips and Martin drafted a map of all the closures in the area, south of Highway 16 and west of Highway 34. Petitioning the Province on behalf of Westman area producers, as well as relentlessly advocating to Premier Wab Kinew and Ag Minister Ron Kostyshyn, Phillips says they were not going to give up until they saw results.
"From X-rays, RCMP banks, hydro assessment, water resources, Ag offices... we said look at all the closures in this part of the province," explains Phillips, "and it was identified by the province that this was an area of concern. And these are two buildings or two businesses that are being reopened that can offer so much more than Ag and insurance. Water resource offices could be there, water samples could be there, they could meet CEOs there."
"It could be a one stop government agency shop and that was our sales pitch, and the government of the day ran with it on their campaign and here we are," he adds.
The Virden MASC office Grand Re-opening took place today at 1:00 pm, with Shoal Lake's Grand Re-opening happening at 3:30 this afternnon.
Phillips says they're hoping for more MASC offices openings in the region.
Please listen to more with Scott Phillips below on the importance of re-opening MASC offices in rural Manitoba.