As consultations on the proposed Farm Freedom and Safety Act wind down this week, the province’s minister of agriculture says common themes have emerged.
“We’ve heard everything from choice of insurance to actually having Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) rules that actually make sense and that you can actually apply on the farm. So there’s been a litany of common themes that we’ve heard,” said Agriculture and Foresty Minister Devin Dreeshen during a consultation tour stop in Olds earlier this month.
The UCP government plans to repeal current leglislation governing farm employment and introduce new legislation -- the Farm Freedom and Safety Act -- this fall.
After meeting with key industry leaders earlier this summer, Dreeshen embarked on a provincewide consultation tour in July and August to get input on what the legislation should include.
“We want the consensus that we’ve compiled through this consultation to be reflected in the legislation to be introduced this fall,” Dreeshen said.
In response to initial discussions with agricultural organizations, Dreeshen sought input on five specific proposals that include recognizing that a farm is unlike other businesses and that farmers and ranchers require flexibility in meeting workplace standards.
Requiring employers to have workplace insurance but allowing a choice between Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB) and private insurance is another proposal under consideration.
“What we’re hearing is farmers want to have a choice and that’s something I think at the end of the day, the legislation we introduce will have that,” said Dreeshen.
When the NDP’s Enhanced Protection for Farm and Ranch Workers Act was passed in December 2015, WCB insurance coverage for waged, non-family workers became mandatory.
“Farmers said well, we want to be able to have a choice. We want to be able to use our private insurance rather than have to pay WCB. Because lots of farmers ended up having two insurance premiums – WCB and their private insurance -- because they wanted to keep their private insurance because it paid out timelier, it was easier to deal with and even covered workers when they weren’t on the job site,” said Dreeshen.
Alberta’s more than 40,000 agricultural operations employ approximately 33,000 people, 40 per cent of who are family members of the owner/operator according to the government.
In 2015, WCB held optional coverage accounts for more than 1,300 farm and ranch employers. In 2018, that number had increased to 4,215 farm and ranch employers with WCB accounts and the board accepted 917 farm injury claims.
Dorothy Thengs, who operates a feedlot with her family near Westward Ho, was among the 30 or more people who attended the Olds consultation tour stop on Aug. 8 to get information and also to be heard.
She said farmers weren’t consulted in the development of the Enhanced Protection for Farm and Ranch Workers Act until after it was passed in the legislature.
“It’s important to say something. Everything got thrown in, in a matter of minutes. At least now they’re taking a little bit of time. They’re putting out the information and they’re allowing us to be involved,” said Thengs.
Her family’s operation employs anywhere from four to 11 people throughout the year depending on the season and has had WCB coverage for 15 years.
“The biggest change with the WCB was the increase in the amount that we had to pay,” she said, adding the feedlot’s premiums went up when the new legislation came into being.
“But I think you need to have WCB – people have lives, they have mortgages. The people who work for you do not only work for you. They work for their families. So you have to be able to provide some type of coverage for that,” Thengs said.
She thinks legislation should consider smaller operations differently than larger ones.
“On our scale with having so many employees I don’t think that we have an option not to be under some form of OHS, or WCB coverage or anything else. There is too much going on. For the smaller farmer that has two, three people, it’s a lot more close-knit and it's harder for them to deal with all this.”
Exempting small farms from employment standards legislation similar to New Brunswick was also a proposal Dreeshen sought input on.
In New Brunswick, a farm employing three or fewer people who are not family is exempt from employment standards legislation.
People were also asked to weigh in on ways to minimize red tape and reduce the regulatory burdon on farmers and ranchers as well as promoting education and best practices to improve farm safety.
About 50 people attended the recent Innisfail consultation tour stop on Aug. 16.
An online survey is also available until Aug. 31.
