Ms Pastoor: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister of Employment and Immigration stated that his number one priority is that every Albertan leaves home in the morning and comes back to his or her family safe at the end of the workday. 

In 2008, the last reported year, 23 people died as a result of farm incidents and 19 the year before. These are Albertans who left for work but didn’t return home. To the Minister of Employment and Immigration: why is the minister content taking no action to protect paid farm workers?

Mr. Lukaszuk: Mr. Speaker, I will reiterate the fact that my number one priority is to make sure that every worker leaves their home, be it in the morning, and comes home healthy and, obviously, alive at the end of the day. That is my number one priority. It’s heart wrenching when I read about accident reports when, unfortunately, something has happened. We’re not in the business of pointing fingers. This is a collaboration between employers, employees, and this government to make sure that we have as safe a workplace as possible.

Now, dealing with farms, Mr. Speaker . . .

The Speaker: I’m afraid we’re going on.

Ms Pastoor: Given that occupational health and safety legislation increases monitoring and safety in the workplace, which leads to decreased injury and health in every other workplace, when will the minister change the legislation to include paid farm workers?

Mr. Lukaszuk: Mr. Speaker, I must brag on behalf of our Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development. He has just significantly increased funding for safety training throughout the Alberta agricultural community. Under the auspices of this department WCB coverage is available to farm workers if they choose to avail themselves of WCB coverage on farms. That has always been available. But we are looking at a balance. Most farming in this province still happens on family farms, where people actually live, not only work.

Ms Pastoor: Given that the farm accident monitoring system is voluntary and that, as a result, farm injuries are widely underreported, how can the effectiveness of the farm safety education programs be accurately determined to ensure that that $715,000 is well used?

Mr. Lukaszuk: Mr. Speaker, we are monitoring all injuries that are employment related on farms. But this member actually brings up a very good point, perhaps unintentionally. The fact of the matter is that if an accident happens on a farm, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s a work-related accident. People actually live on farms; they play on farms. Those are not only places of employment, so not all accidents that occur on a family farm are farming related.

Alberta Hansard, March 16, 2010

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