Farm safety bill will pass this fall, but premier leaves door open to changes
原始发布日期： 2015-12-01 发布者：中和字变大 字变小
Alberta labour minister says amendment will include a family-member exemption A protester holds a sign at a rally protesting Bill 6, the Enhanced Protection for Farm and Ranch Workers Act. (CBC ) Premier Rachel Notley says her government will pass Bill 6 this fall, but she is leaving the door open for possible amendments.Notley said the contentious farm safety bill, which drew more than 1,000 farmers and ranchers to a noisy protest at the Alberta legislature on Monday, does not prohibit children from working on their family's farms, as critics have suggested. Nor will it prevent children from taking part in 4H activities. "Their kids will continue to be able to work on the farm as they always have," Notley said in a conference call from Paris, where she is attending the COP21 conference. "And they will continue to be educated on the farm through 4H programs as they always have." Notley declined to say what new information is coming, only that it will be released shortly. But Jobs, Skills, Training and Labour Minister Lori Sigurdson said in an interview Tuesday morning on News Talk 770 radio that she talked with protesters and agreed to put a family-member exemption into Bill 6. She claimed the government always intended that to be included in the regulations later, after the bill was passed. "They (the protesters) want it to be explicit in the bill itself that families on farms are exempted," Sigurdson said. "We assured them that would be clear in the regulations, but they want us to add that to this bill and put it up front. And so we've been listening and so we're looking at creating some amendments to ensure that, so it is explicit." Notley said she's been advised about some miscommunication about the bill. "So that is why we're going to take additional steps to clarify our intent in a way that I hope will restore the trust of most Albertans in what the government is trying to achieve through this important legislation," she said. Notley blamed ministry officials for providing "misinformation" about the bill at town hall meetings. Bill 6 was scheduled for debate in the legislature Monday evening. But the government cancelled the evening sitting late that afternoon. Notley also discussed her activities while in Paris for COP21, where she said Alberta's new message on climate change was heard. The government announced Alberta has been accepted as a member of the Climate Group's States and Regions Alliance. The group is made up of 31 subnational regions across the world. |