“I will never be able to accept that injuries and deaths caused by workplace accidents are simply a fact of life,” – Premier Rachel Notley
Premier Rachel Notley sounds like she’s trying to emulate the former prime minister Pierre Trudeau with her come ‘hell or high water’ approach to pushing Bill 6 through the legislature. She’s already seen the ‘hell’ but will the ‘high water’ recede before she returns from Paris?
Despite one of the loudest and most volatile protests of the current Alberta government’s reign, Premier Notley has vowed to forge ahead and pass Bill 6 this month. She has, however, recognized the shortcomings of the legislation and has proposed amendments to make it clear that true family farms are not included in the provisions of the bill.
Time will tell, however, whether all family and neighbours of these ‘family farms’ escape the restrictions of this farm safety legislation. Even the smallest of ‘family farms’ are often incorporated for taxation and management purposes these days so the amendments and the regulations to follow will have to be abundantly clear to avoid the long arm of the law.
The New Democratic government has received a well-earned black eye for its handling of this issue. It is not as if this is a new issue in the Alberta legislature. If one was to research back into previous private member’s bills and members motions it will stand out as one of the most often introduced subjects introduced by both the Liberal and New Democratic parties over the past several sessions. It is truly a lack of due diligence in bringing Bill 6 forward without reviewing the legislation of other agricultural provinces to see how they have handled the small family farms before drafting the legislation.
The government should also have conducted a more extensive consultation process prior to introducing a farm safety bill in the assembly. Even then, the NDP tactics of holding public information sessions in small halls in the rural areas where the opposition is fierce, and in large halls in the urban centres where there is little concern about agricultural issues, was politically naÄŹve. It reminds me of a situation in September when the environment minister held a town hall meeting in a small cafĂ© in the Crowsnest Pass to announce the proclamation of the Castle Wilderness Park. The local media wasn’t informed, yet the cafĂ© was packed with NDP supporters. Crass politics!
Farmers are a community amongst themselves. When they are opposed to something they band together and make themselves heard. Even though the amendments to Bill 6 may make the legislation palatable, they have lost the trust of rural Alberta, not that they had much trust in the first place, but it will be virtually impossible to get the farming community on side at this juncture.
Despite the premier’s mantra to pass Bill 6 this fall and proclaim it effective Jan. 1, there is still the question of the regulations. As they say – ‘the devil is in the details.’ The farming community won’t be silent until they hear the rest of the story!
Ken Allred is a former St. Albert alderman and MLA.
