David Swann contrasts Alberta’s animal care legislation with lack of similar legislation for farm workers
Calgary MLA and Liberal Agriculture Critic David Swann used the occasion of the annual Agriculture Safety Week to repeat his calls for health and safety regulations for farm workers.
During a private members’ address to the legislature on March 11, Swann reminded the MLAs that Premier Alison Redford promised during her leadership campaign to address what Swann called “unjust and unsafe working conditions for paid farm workers, including children.”
Swann noted Alberta was celebrating 30 years of legislation maintaining health and safety standards for farm animals. “For example, it’s illegal to carry farm animals in an open pickup truck in Alberta, but farm workers? Not a problem,” he said in his speech. He called the WCB, OHS and child labour law exemptions for industrial farming operations “politically motivated” and said those exemptions are “appalling to conscious Albertans.”
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“Agricultural workers, including children, deserve the same rights as every other worker,” Swann said.
In an interview after his speech, Swann said reaction in the legislature was quiet. “Ag safety week allowed me to show the tremendous contradiction between their commitment to health and safety for animals and their total abdication of responsibility for farm workers,” he said. Swann said he’ll continue to push the government, particularly the Ministry of Human Services, to enact legislation to protect farm workers. Opponents to such legislation often cite government interference and increased costs for farmers, Swann said. But “I think all Albertans want to be proud of the food we produce… we cannot be proud of the food we produce in this province when we do it on the backs of and at the risk of our paid farm workers.”
Swann said he hopes the government will start moving to put in legislation to protect farm workers. Inquiries about a response to Swann’s comments were directed by an Alberta Agriculture spokesperson to the Ministry of Human Services. There was no response before deadline.