Re: Are dead ducks more important than dead people? (editorial, Jan. 3): Great editorial contribution to the dialogue. Any “hint” from Minister Hayden is likeSeinfeld,a show about nothing. With the farm and ranch elite breathing down his neck he has no intention to introduce social policy that supports equality and justice for those who go to work in minus 35 C to check cattle pens, handle grain, and work in dangerous spaces. His lauded one-sided report, was a textbook case of writing that is predetermined by the client.
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Secondly, Rod Scarlett’s comments (Two deaths bring calls for safety legislation, page 20)) are disingenuous. “(L)egislation and exemptions are really not the issue.” He’s a paid lobbyist for the farm owners and is employed to keep the status quo and bar the door from the public and political wolf. Your editorials, both before and now, undeniably raise a moral issue. His admonishment that the provincial fatality record is no different regardless of the absence of standards, should be challenged. The gold-standard safety reports of the Canadian Ag Injury and Fatality Statistics organization (CAIR), have no information on provincial comparisons.
When the recent Edmonton fatalities were covered in theEdmonton Journal,Labour Minister Lukazuk, in rejecting farm worker standards, said it is so hard to enforce ethical standards because you couldn’t separate recreational activities from farm work in OH&S scrutiny. I had no idea that the old joke, about summerfallowing being recreational cultivation, had reached into the townie understanding.
Douglas TaylorEdmonton
