EDMONTON, Alta. – In response to a group of farm and ranch workers who held a public demonstration against a new farm safety bill at the Alberta legislature on Nov. 27, the province’s Minister of Jobs, Skills, Training and Labour, Lori Sigurdson, issued a media statement assuring opponents of the bill that it would not harm Alberta’s community of family farms. “Bill 6 does nothing more than bring Alberta’s safety standards on farm and ranching operations in line with every other province,” Sigurdson said. “Family farms have thrived in those provinces, and they will continue to do so in Alberta.” Sigurdson added that she had heard citizens’ concerns that the bill, if passed into law, might have a negative effect on family members, friends and neighbours who help farm workers with tasks. “Farm kids will continue to make their communities proud in their local 4-H program, just as they do in every other province,” she said. “The legislation provides two simple things. A paid farm worker who is directed to do something dangerous can say no… and if they are hurt or killed at work, they or their family can be compensated, just like other workers in Alberta and Canada.” The Alberta NDP government introduced Bill 6, or the Enhanced Protection for Farm and Ranch Workers Act, on Nov. 17 (COHSN, Nov. 24).