About 30 people who attended the Central Mountainview Advisory Group's (CMAG) spring information night at the county office on April 28 received an update on government consultations for the Bill 6 regulations.
Assistant farmers' advocate Janet Patriquin was one of three speakers that afternoon. She said the government has been trying to fill positions for six technical working groups that will make recommendations and draft regulations to be presented to the public.
Patriquin said the goal is to have draft regulations ready by the spring of 2017.
The Alberta government's website states those technical working groups will focus on five areas: the Employment Standards Code, Labour Relations Code, best occupational health and safety (OHS) practices for agriculture; education, training and certification for OHS; two groups would review existing OHS requirements and exceptions.
While the Farmers' Advocate Office does not take a position on Bill 6, the third speaker – the local Opposition Wildrose MLA – did.
Nathan Cooper called Bill 6 a "risky ideological agenda" and said ordinary farmers need to be part of the process.
"We've seen from the government, consultation looking like only speaking with friends of the government. We need to make sure we have all stakeholders represented in those consultations," Cooper said.
"Given that they're going to be using those six technical working groups' methods, we need to ensure that whatever findings there are from those groups, that those findings are reported back to Albertans prior to being finalized in regulations."
Agriculture is Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills' largest employer and the success of the constituency depends on the industry once oil and gas is gone, he said.
The information session also included a short speech from Safety BOSS's Curtis Wright and a video on what to do in the event of a wellhead strike while using farm equipment.
"Originally, the group was interested in Bill 6 and wanted to bring in the MLA but they wanted to go further and talk about workplace health and safety, best practices in oil and gas," said CMAG facilitator Paula Hall.
