Alberta Agriculture Minister Devin Dreeshen visits Vegreville to Consult on New Legislation

Alberta Agriculture Minister Devin Dreeshen visits Vegreville to Consult on New Legislation

Emily Mailhot Reporter – Vegreville News Advertiser

On Thursday, July 25, Alberta Agriculture and Forestry Minister Devin Dreeshen stopped in Vegreville on his first day of touringfor round-table meetings regardingwhat the contents of the upcoming Farm Freedom and Safety Act should be. Farmers and producers were invited via invitation through their local MLA, in this case being Fort Saskatchewan- Vegreville MLA Jackie Armstrong-Homeniuk.

The goal of the tour is to consult with farmers in order to make realistic, commonsense regulations.

“We need to listen to farmers,” said Dreeshen, “They’re the ones who are impacted, so we need something that works for them to help improve safety on farms and is commonsense and practical.”

The roundtable discussions allowed ample opportunity for the farmers and producers to speak their minds and cast a vote of experience as to what the Act should include.

“Most surprising for me, I think, was insurance. Farmers wanted a choice rather than mandatory WCB coverage, they could figure out what works best for their farm to ensure adequate coverage rather than having the WCB mandatory.”

Also on the table is a “fightback strategy,” to tell agriculture’s good, positive story for the modern agriculture “To me, they were happy that there would be a repeal and a replacement of Bill 6. Many farmers did not feel that they were in compliance with Bill 6 regulations, and those that did would talk to other farmers and realize that they weren’t. Whatever we put into place has to allow farmers to be in compliance.”

Dreeshen says that the protocol for ensuring good legislation should be to consult first and make decisions later.

“We don’t have any preconceived notions of what’s going to be in the Farm Freedom and Safety Act. We have the name, but other than that the contents will come from these consultations.”

The tour will make another 20-plus stops over the next five weeks, ending at the beginning of September. The Act will likely be up for review by October.

Also involved in the process will be Labour Minister Jason Copping, as the Act is ultimately a labour law.