Premier says farm safety law is coming
Premier Alison Redford said Wednesday the government will keep her promise to extend occupational health and safety legislation to hired farm workers, but she set no timetable for the planned changes.
Redford has been under fire from opposition parties and labour advocates for failing to live up to the pledge made during both the spring provincial election campaign and last year’s Tory leadership race.
But the premier told reporters in Edmonton that the government hasn’t backed away from her promise — although consultations with stakeholders continue.
“It’s certainly part of what we’re doing in terms of the government agenda and we haven’t stepped back from that,” she said. “I’ve made a commitment. What we’re go- ing to do is continue to do that work to ensure that we get everyone’s input, and when the time is right, we’ll do it.”
Alberta is the only province not to extend legislated protection to farm labour.
Redford’s comments were met with skepticism by Liberal MLA David Swann, who has been one of the most vocal proponents of including farm workers under the law.
“She seems to want to leave herself wide open for misinterpretation. Instead of agreeing this has been researched to death, acknowledging a number of reports ... that have pressed the government to do what the rest of the country has done years ago and saying it’s a matter of real priority, her response once again is kind of vacillating,” Swann said.
Swann said he believes the Progressive Conservative government is under heavy pressure from rural Alberta and the industry to go back on Redford’s promise.
The government’s Farm Safety Advisory Council, dominated by representatives of the agriculture industry, re- cently recommended to the province that it continue to exempt hired farm workers from OHS legislation.
It called for an enhanced safety education program and voluntary certification instead.
Wildrose MLA Jeff Wilson said there is a concern that the government implementing legislation could negatively impact family farms.
But he said he sees merit in the idea of covering large-scale operations such as feedlots.
“I hope they come up with a reasonable policy,” Wilson said.
Recently released figures show 355 Albertans were killed and 678 were seriously injured in farm accidents over a span of nearly three decades. Of those, 26 deaths, or seven per cent of the total, were hired workers.