It appears NDP leader Rachel Notley hasn’t lost her appetite for pushing unpopular legislation, that Albertans don’t want. Asked Thursday whether her government would consider introducing a new version of Bill 6: The Enhanced Protection for Farm and Ranch Workers Act, she didn’t try to hide her plans. She looked into the cameras: “We will be looking at it.”.Most Albertans remember how wildly controversial and highly unpopular Bill 6 was, a measure that was intended to impose occupational health and safety regulations upon the province’s 43,000 farms and ranches..The absurdity of some of the policies couched in this legislation are plain to anyone with even a limited understanding of how farming and ranching operations actually work..For example, under the bill, it was mandatory for farmers to pay WCB whenever they contracted outside help; a major inconvenience especially when you consider that most outside help is hired on an as-needed basis. The bill also gave OH&S the authority to investigate and issue stop work orders in the case of "unsafe" working conditions.."Unsafe" is a rather subjective term, and I wouldn't blame farmers for thinking that a health and safety officer (with potentially zero agriculture experience) has no right to tell producers what they can and can't do on their own property..And yet, here we are nearly eight years later with Notley wanting to bring it back from the grave. In a democracy, you’d think that once the people have spoken out about something they don’t like, the government would simply listen and toss their agenda to one side. (Seriously, they’re supposed to represent our interests, aren’t they?).It's a nice thought, but that doesn't seem to be how the NDP does things..Notley reviving this bill would be a premium example of that rare type of hubris that comes part-and-parcel with left-leaning political parties. They — the government — always know best. It doesn’t matter if 'it ain’t broke.' You can never trust that they won’t try to fix it..In 2015, despite opposition from the public and Conservative MLAs, and after more than a thousand people showed up on the steps of the Legislature to protest Bill 6, Rachel Notley affirmed that she was “very, very proud that…this bill will ensure that paid farm workers will finally enjoy the protections enjoyed by every other worker.”.There wasn’t even time for considered debate — her government rammed the bill through only 23 days after its first reading..Let’s be clear. When it comes to farm and ranch workers, we’re primarily talking about families and neighbours that work with and for each other to support agriculture in our province. Is there really any need to place additional regulations on a sector which has done a fairly good job of managing itself for the last century?.Of course there isn’t..The sad part is, this isn’t just Rachel Notley’s pet project, her candidates support it too. Just look at this enthusiastic tweet from the NDP candidate for Central-Peace Notley, where the NDP's Megan Ciurysek faces the UCP's Todd Loewen:.“I support #Bill6 !!!!!!!” - Megan Ciurysek, Dec 4, 2016.I wonder how many people in Ms. Ciurysek’s rural constituency would be pleased to know that their candidate was in lockstep with the former Premier on Bill 6 back in 2016? Because if that was the case back then — my bet is that the candidate for Central Peace-Notley won’t be shy in supporting another bill that tries to insert itself into Alberta’s family farming operations should the NDP win government..Make no mistake. The NDP still think they — not you — know what’s best for you, your family, your business, and the province. That’s how they ran the place last time..Today, Rachel Notley told us that given the chance, that’s how they’d do it again.
