EDMONTON — About 200 angry farmers and ranchers have staged a protest in front of the Alberta legislature over a proposed new farm safety bill.
Bill 6 would make Workers' Compensation Board coverage mandatory for farm workers and would cancel the agriculture sector's exemption from occupational health and safety rules.
Farms would also be subject to employment standards covering areas such as hours, vacation pay and minimum wages.
Farmers at Friday's rally fret the bill could kill their livelihood, and waved signs including one that read: "Save the farm family from genocide."
Rally organizer Sara Wheale says Bill 6 will have a dramatic impact on the way of life of farm families, many of whom rely on their children to help with farm chores.
Farmer Kate Dewindt says she and others want their children to be safe, but "this isn't the way to do it."
"It's obvious they kicked a hornet's nest that didn't need kicking," says rancher John Erdman. "They're trying to impose an urban industrial concept of employment upon family living. Families are families; employees are separate from that."
Officials say 25 people died from farm-related accidents in 2014 — nine more than the previous year. Earlier this month, a 10-year-old boy was killed at a Hutterite colony. Relatives said he had just finished cleaning up some hog barns and was driving a forklift on a gravel road when the machine toppled into the ditch.
Alberta is one of four provinces without mandatory workers' compensation for farmers. The others are Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan, and Prince Edward Island.
Jobs Minister Lori Sigurdson has said the specifics of the bill will be worked out following consultations and will be phased in. However, the WCB and OHS regulations will take effect on Jan. 1.
Sigurdson was at Friday's protest and took some hard questions from those in attendance.
"What is this going to cost for workman's compensation for the average farmer?" one farmer asked her.
"That information is on the website," Sigurdson replied.
"But you should have that information for me right now," he said.
Sigurdson wouldn't take questions from the media, saying she had another appointment to go to, but later issued a news release insisting the NDP government has been listening to Albertans on the issue.
"I want to assure those families that Bill 6 does nothing more than bring Alberta's safety standards on farm and ranching operations in line with every other province in Canada," she said.
"The concerns I'm hearing about most relate to what the legislation means for family, friends and neighbours who pitch in on the farm. I can assure you that farm kids will continue to make their communities proud in their local 4-H program, just as they do in every other province. Neighbours and relatives will continue to help each other out in times of need, just as they do in every other province.
"These customary parts of farm life will go on as before, while enhancing protections for employees."
She said the bill will give a paid farmworker the right to say no to doing dangerous work, and if an employee is hurt or killed at work, their family will be entitled to compensation.
