Alberta Farmworkers Day was August 20, 2016
Leader David Swann made the following statement on Alberta Farm Workers Day:
“This Farm Workers Day is a particularly special one. For years, the Alberta Liberals called on successive Progressive Conservative governments to protect the basic rights of farm workers and bring Alberta in line with the rest of Canada.
“Despite serious errors in communication by the NDP government, I was proud to support the protection and benefits the Enhanced Protection for Farm and Ranch Workers Act provides. Farmworkers, farmers and Alberta’s access to foreign markets are all supported by this bill.
“It is shameful Alberta took so long to provide farmworkers with the protections every other employee in Alberta receives, despite injuries and deaths every year. The Enhanced Protection for Farm and Ranch Workers Act is an enormous step towards addressing that shame. What remains now is to move ahead as quickly as possible to implement standard workplace safety and labour laws, so we can put an end to the preventable injuries that happen every day in this province.
“Farm workers provide the food we lay on our table and are the backbone of Alberta’s thriving agriculture sector. They have the thanks and best wishes of myself and the Alberta Liberals.”