Photo courtesy of Alex McCuaig - Agriculture Minister Devin Dreeshen and Brooks-Medicine Hat MLA Michaela Glasgo at the Brooks Farm Freedom and Safety Act consultations at the Heritage Inn on July 27, 2019.

By Alex McCuaig

Farm-Consultations

New farm legislation seeks to be grown from the grassroots

Jul 28, 2019 | 7:52 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – The newly minted provincial agriculture minister made his first trip to southeastern Alberta in that capacity to hear from local farmers and ranchers about what should be in the new Farm Freedom and Safety Act.

The proposed legislation is anticipated to repeal and replace the controversial Bill 6 introduced by the former NDP government in 2015 which sparked wide-spread outrage amongst the province’s agricultural community.

One of the major aspects of Bill 6 was the mandatory inclusion of Workers’ Compensation Board insurance for agricultural workers.

That’s a sentiment Minister Devin Dreeshen said he is familiar with as his cross-province consultation begins on the new legislation.

“That’s something that we’ve heard at every stop along the way on this tour was they wanted choice,” said Dresshen during his stop in Brooks Saturday morning. “They wanted to be able to choose WCB or a private insurer. So that is something that we’ve heard loud and clear and is something, at the end of the day, we’ll be able to provide that choice in insurance.”

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Michaela Glasgo, Brooks-Medicine Hat MLA, said the key thing about the consultations is the fact the government is listening to Albertans.

“Consultations are very important – especially to our government,” said Glasgo. “We know that repealing and replacing (Bill 6) with the Farm Freedom and Safety Act, that it’s important that we have the input from the people who this really affects.”

Drew Barnes, Cypress-Medicine Hat MLA, said what the new act will look like will be determined by those who it most affects.

“What I’m hearing is that we need to ensure safety is paramount but we need to ensure the family farm, our farming industry, ranching and greenhouses have the opportunity to remain competitive in a competitive world.”

The consultation sessions are set to continue across the province over the summer with the new legislation anticipated to be introduced in the fall legislature session.