Gov't could secretly change Bill 6 to include families, neigbours: MLA

Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills MLA Nathan Cooper fears the provincial government may change Bill 6 to include families and neighbours again, now that the bill has been passed in the legislature.

The controversial bill, which requires agricultural workers to be governed by Occupational Health and Safety rules and receive Workers' Compensation Board coverage, was passed by the NDP provincial government this past Thursday, despite strong opposition from agricultural sector.

Opposition was so fierce that the province changed the proposed legislation a few weeks ago exempting families and neighbours from requirements under the act.

Cooper says there are loopholes that he fears could allow families and neighbours to fall under the law's provisions again.

"One of the other big concerns for us and something that we'll be watching is, once the regulations are in place, there's nothing that prevents them from being changed by cabinet without notification of the legislature or anything like that," Cooper said during an interview with the Albertan.

"In the amendment, off the top of my head, there were 10 sections. Eight of the 10 sections are regulations that can be changed at any time by any future government or not.

"They've left themselves the opportunity to make the changes behind closed doors."

That could not be confirmed at press time.

Cooper, a member of the opposition Wildrose Party, says he and his party are suspicious about the government's true intentions because he says the province changed its story regarding the bill a few times.

He says during an information session in Grande Prairie at the beginning of debate on Bill 6, the provincial government and the Workers' Compensation Board (WCB) said farm families and neighbours would be governed by the bill's rules.

That was not the case by the time the government held a hotly contested information session on Bill 6 this past Wednesday at the Cow Palace in Olds.

"The information that they shared at that session compared to the session in Olds is like talking about a totally different bill," Cooper says.

"It changed at least three or four times throughout the discussion. The first handout that they gave actually said that paid or unpaid workers – so basically your neighbour – would have to be covered by WCB.

"This is a handout that was provided by the ministry both at that meeting as well as on the WCB website. As well, they briefed the official opposition -- and the minster was there -- and they gave us the information. It's not like the minister couldn't have read it," he added.

"Now they've gone back and said, 'oh this was just misinformation, we didn't mean any of that stuff. What we actually meant to do was 'this.'

"In the end, that's what started a lot of the mistrust because they said one thing and did another. And then additionally, in the end what we wound up with was a piece of legislation that allows them to change all those regulations behind closed doors in cabinet anyway.

"So who knows whether or not that's what they actually meant or not?"

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