On one of my first weeks on the job seven years ago in St. Paul, we were doing an agriculture section and I confessed that I practically didn’t know the difference between a tractor and a hay bale.
“Aren’t you from Saskatchewan?” my boss asked me at the time.
Yes, I was, but I was from Saskatoon, and definitely a city slicker, if a small-time one. But luckily, I was in for an education on the job. Over the next years, I was welcomed into many a farm family’s home and made to feel welcome; they talked to me about their livelihood and passion, never once showing impatience or rudeness over my ignorance. I went to farm tours and 4-H shows, watched farm kids feed their lambs or calves with devotion, name each of their pigs and unsentimentally – or sentimentally, depending on the child – decide which one they’d have for dinner. I took my first deep breath in of the sweet smell of silage, watched the sun set over crop fields and drove home seeing the lights of combines working late into the dark nights of October.
And really, this city slicker came to understand a little bit more about what people were talking about when they described farming as not just a job, but a way of life. I could see the pride and joy people took in it, and the beauty of it too.
So I see why there has been a backlash over Bill 6, and the possibility of that life being taken away from people if they face even more regulation through Occupational Health & Safety legislation. Since we all need food and depend on farmers, this should matter to everyone. But right now, Alberta is the only Canadian province where farm employees cannot legally refuse unsafe work, employees of a farm, no matter how big, have no access to workers’ compensation, and there are no child labour laws in place. Given the growth of bigger, corporate farms, regulations of some kind seem necessary. However, giving farm workers and employees this protection cannot, must not, kill family farms or stop children from participating in farm life, so wording of the regulations is critical, and the government should consider exempting small family farms.
Every government, no matter what end of the political spectrum, is capable of introducing bad, faulty or incomplete legislation. The PCs certainly did, the NDPs have made their missteps too, and no doubt about it, the Wildrose, if elected, would also surely screw up from time to time. But if we recall from our last government, the PCs got pushback on everything from land and surface rights, electrical statutes, gay-straight alliances, redesigning license plates and more. With a majority government, the PCs would have been able to push through its agenda even over the howls of the opposition parties, but when the people of the province loudly voiced their anger and disappointment and let the government know it had gone too far, it would drop and change direction. Goodbye alberta.ca and welcome back Alberta, Wild Rose Country.
There has been an incredible tide of anger against the premier or “Nutley,” as I’ve seen her dubbed, and NDP MLAs over Bill 6. If the government lumps family farms and corporate farms as one, and treats them as one under this legislation, pushes it through without listening and responding to valid concerns posed in consultations, that will really be a valid reason for people to call foul, push for the recall legislation and even make the calls for a bloodless coup that have been voiced. Frankly, I don’t think that reason exists just yet.
However, it’s the people rallying on the steps of the legislature, signing petitions and writing letters to say they need more information, that are doing their part in the democratic process. Now, it’s the government’s job to listen as it implements Bill 6, because there is no doubt the legislation, in some form, is needed. In the end, governments aren’t the ones that decide the future of this province, especially as politicians come and go. It’s the people of Alberta who will be here forever.
