The backlash towards farm safety legislation in Alberta has ended.
The NDP Government passed Bill 6 on December 10, 2015. A petition for a plebiscite was passed around in Peace River. High Prairie farmers also signed petitions. Ninth-generation farmer Kristen Rich told the AM 610 Newsroom the NDP don’t seem to realise that the legislation will change every aspect of farm life right throughout the province.
“I think in the early days, a lot of folks had some legitimate concerns about changes, as we all are. We’re kinda nervous about change, I suppose. But the changes were always going to be positive,” said Oneil Carlier, Alberta Agriculture and Forestry Minister.
The new rules apply only to farm and ranch operations that employ paid workers.
“The consultation that’s taken place, that’s going to do the regulations. So a lot of it hasn’t been put in place yet until we take some of those recommendations and make them into regulations,” said Carlier, during a phone interview on Friday, December 2, 2016.
The Bill put both farm and ranch workers under Occupational Health & Safety Rules, as well as under Workers Compensation. Changes from the bill began to come into effect on January 1, 2016.
-Posted by CW
