Government House Leader Brian Mason says his caucus will exercise its right to limit debate on each of the final three stages of discussion on Bill 6, the Enhanced Protection for Farm and Ranch Workers Act.
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Unfortunately, Loedeman said, the government is going the wrong way about it.
But critics are trying to stop that, saying the proposed legislation threatens to destroy traditional family farms and agricultural lifestyles.
Farmers, their families, and volunteer farmers are now explicitly excluded from OHS and workers compensation, and all other types of workers have until April 2016 to enroll in WCB. “Our hearts go out to the families that lost children this year, what we’re doing is creating a culture of safety on farms and we’re working with paid, non-family members and we know that if we do this it will create more of a culture of that and I think that will have impacts”.
“We were getting actually pretty close when they (farmers and ranchers) were going to agree to some legislative changes”.
However, family farms without paid workers will be exempt.
In his 2009 fatality inquiry report on the 2006 death of farm worker Kevan Chandler, provincial justice Peter Barley took exception with the exclusion of agricultural workers from Alberta’s workplace laws.
The issues that local residents brought to Cyrs attention at the open house were never-ending, with many baffled at how quickly the NDP are pushing this legislation through.
In recent weeks, thousands of protesters organized and attended rallies against the legislation. In the Alberta oilsands, taking off one’s safety goggles for a few seconds can be enough to get a worker fired.
Other oilsands veterans joining the Bill 6 protests anxious that sloppy regulations would force cattle ranchers to wear bull-angering safety vests or mandate fire extinguishers in every truck cab. Exemptions were also extended to Hutterites, a sect of Anabaptist communal farmers.
Farmers across the province aired their concern over what they say was unclear wording, and Jobs Minister Lori Sigurdson says that’s been amended, but she explains the intent for the bill has always been there. Minister Oneil Carlier have a news conference set for 3:30 p.m.
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“You’d do this in April when everyone was on their air seeders; they wouldn’t have time to come to the protests”, said Gibb.
