The Politics of Farming: Bill 6
With an incredible amount of response to the recently passed Bill 6 by our provincial government it’s unlikely you haven’t heard at least something about how this legislation will affect agriculture in Alberta. However, much of the response surrounding this bill comes from a place of extreme emotion and partisan politicking.
We want to help our community understand the why and how of these changes within a context of fact and civic participation.
To be extremely clear, Riverbend Gardens is a non-partisan business. We do not advocate for or endorse any particular political party.
To help us get some background on the bill and the separate facts from fear, we got in touch with our MLA’s (Heather Sweet) office.
Before we reached out to MLA Sweet, we did our due diligence: we read the legislation provided on the government’s website and looked into the occupational health and safety standards it references. After doing that we collected the questions we still had for the government regarding the history, communication and implementation of Bill 6. Below are some of the answers we received:
Q. Why is it important to have a conversation about legislation surrounding agricultural labour and safety regulations?
A. By ensuring that wage-earners who are not owners or family members are subject to OHS legislation, we can work to prevent farm and ranch incidents that can result in death or injury. With WCB insurance coverage, wage-earners and their families would have supports in the event of a workplace injury or fatality. Farms and ranches with WCB coverage would also be protected against the impacts of workplace injuries and illnesses, including lawsuits.
Q. Is Alberta the only province without legislated protections in the agricultural industry?
A. Alberta is the only jurisdiction in Canada where wage-earning farm and ranch employees do not have any form of health and safety regulation. Exemptions for agriculture date back to a time when farming and ranching operations were different than they are today. Over time, many operations have grown bigger and paid farm workers have become more common. One-by-one, Canadian provinces began covering the agriculture industry under their laws with the general intent to bring more protections to commercial agricultural enterprises.
Q. How long has this legislation been in the works by the provincial government?
A. It has long been the position of the NDP that waged farm and ranch employees should have the same workplace protections as other Alberta worker, dating back to the days when the late Grant Notley served as party leader. In addition, the former Conservative government had promised to bring in this legislation when former premier Redford was running to be party leader. Interim party leader Rick McIver said they were on the verge of bringing in a similar law, but were defeated before they had the opportunity.
Q. How long have stakeholders in the agricultural industry been consulting on the formation of this bill before it’s first reading and how many town halls were held by the government to consult with farmers and ranchers in general after the first reading?
A. The government has been discussing and engaging stakeholders about this legislation for many years, even before Albertans elected its first NDP government. Discussions with stakeholders continued up to the time that the bill was introduced to the Legislature.
Q. How long have stakeholders in the agricultural industry been consulting on the formation of this bill before it’s first reading and how many town halls were held by the government to consult with farmers and ranchers in general after the first reading?
A. The government has been discussing and engaging stakeholders about this legislation for many years, even before Albertans elected its first NDP government. Discussions with stakeholders continued up to the time that the bill was introduced to the Legislature.
Q. What regulations will be instituted in regard to overtime work and pay?
A. Until the government has completed consultations with industry about farm and ranch operations’ specific needs the industry will maintain its exemptions from Employment Standards and the Labour Relations Code.
Q. How do you see these regulations affecting non-rural Albertan eaters looking for support and sustain local producers?
A. There are no implications for the consumers of local food. Alberta farmers and ranchers produce the best food in the world and Alberta consumers are proud to support food producers from this great province. This relationship began before the approval of farm and ranch workers legislation and it will continue now that the bill has been passed in the Legislature.
That’s a lot of information to take in! Now that we’ve become pretty well versed in what Bill 6 entails, we have a few Riverbend specific take homes for you related to this issue.
Why Agriculture?
We love this industry and are always amazed at the ways it adapts and renews itself to changing environments and global economics. Truth is, we are a very small fish in a very large pond. We do hire a crew of staff for our summer months of field work, but in reality, we are a family farm just growing veggies as best we can. Which means that Riverbend falls in that weird in-between world where we’re not a massive farming operation but we also do hire a handful of seasonal employees we are responsible to and for. Our unique position in the industry sets us up to feel the pinch of legislation meant to regulate large commercial operations acutely.
That being said, with or without legislation, we care about the wellbeing of our employees and take their health seriously. Seasonal work is tough and we are always trying to balance the health of our employees and ourselves with the incredible demands of ripe and ready veggies.
We are interested to see how future regulations and legislation will affect overtime work and pay because our business has a concentrated season and long days just come hand in hand with this kind of work.
Mental Health
If you know anyone who has worked on a farm, you’ll know that it is not a job for the faint of heart. When we’re deep in the middle of August harvest and you can’t bear to look at another cauliflower, you may think you’re losing your mind. Guess what, it happens to all of us! The nature of our work is that when we’re busy, we are incredibly busy. With the long hours required and physical demands of the job, it’s easy to overlook the mental health of our staff.
However, the nice thing about our size and the way we work is that we understand exactly the kind of mental stress this job puts on our employees. We’ve been there and still are there ourselves so it’s important for us to keep open communication with our staff. We do our best to make every day a good day.
We want our work to be something we find joy in and we want to find that together. Whether that’s celebrating birthdays with ice cream cake for all, taking the time to share the beauty of a particular bug/frog/deer that has wandered it’s way into our path or sharing food over a Friday after work fire, we do what we can to keep ourselves and our staff centred in the midst of a rigorous season.
WCB and Safety
Other than trying to stay in tune with our team and make sure they are doing well, we have always had other measures in place to protect our staff and ourselves. While we’re careful to ensure the safety of our staff in their daily work, we do have WCB coverage to make sure that the Riverbend family is covered in case of an accident.
We’re so happy to say that while we have rarely had any incidents that require WCB intervention, it’s important to us to make sure this measure is part of our workplace. Yes, WCB is not perfect, but nothing is and to get into that conversation would be a whole different email!
Sustainability
You’ve heard it before and I’m sure we’ll say it again, but we just want to grow great, healthy food for our community. We are in favour of any measures that work towards keeping that option sustainable for us and other producers.
There are lots of variables we can’t predict and many ways we can try to be involved in civic process on these relevant issues in the future. We look forward to working together as a community to make sure our business, our crops, our staff, our customers and ourselves are healthy and thriving.