A heavy winter fog and safety concerns about a Highway 2 cavalcade of farm equipment disrupted a farmers protest Dec. 12.
The fog was not only a physical reality, it was also a metaphor for the uncertainty farmers and ranchers felt after Bill 6, the provincial government's law requiring agricultural employees to be covered by Workers Compensation Board (WCB) rules was passed in the legislature last Thursday.
Rally organizers planned to travel from Olds to Carstairs on Highway 2, but decided instead to drive on the service road running 100 metres west of the highway. They confirmed their decision with the RCMP and Alberta Highway personnel who had arranged to escort them.
A large contingent of 350 farm vehicles expected from Rocky Mountain House was unable to get to Olds because of the foul weather. The fog also grounded farmers closer to the marshalling point on the Netook side road at the intersection of highways 2 and 27.
With Bill 6 passed by the legislature, the focus now shifts to the inadequacies of workers' compensation and the yet-to-be released Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) regulations for farming operations.
“I have WBC insurance for my employees,” said protest organizer Jim Thain. “But WBC is a broken system.”
WCB is embroiled in multiple lawsuits from disaffected injured workers who have not received satisfaction, Thain said.
“Why would farmers want WBC coverage when it is in such bad shape?”
And farmers polled by the Review Dec. 12 and 13 after Bill 6 passed into law said they don't know what do to comply with the law.
“Has the government even written the OHS rules for farms,” asked one Didsbury-area farmer, who did not wish to be named.
“I think Progressive Conservative leader Ric McIver nailed it when he said the people of Alberta wanted change (when they elected the NDP government) but they got the kind of change they did not expect,” said Thain.
