WCB insurance not cheap
Re: Benefits of farm workplace insurance by Toby Malloy, (WP, Dec. 24).
Farm workplace insurance (WCB) that Alberta government wants in place for Alberta farm workers is the worst insurance anyone could have.
Why? WCB covers a person only on the job — not to or from work, at home, etc. It is the responsibility of “any employee in any profession” to look after having their own insurance for injury or sickness. Employers do.
There is injury insurance that covers a person 24 hours a day at work, home, in Canada and anywhere else in the world.
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Agriculture needs to prepare for government spending cuts
As government makes necessary cuts to spending, what can be reduced or restructured in the budgets for agriculture?
Even better yet it is cheaper. One example, $500 for year-round injury coverage and Alberta WCB costs $800 a year only while on the job.
It is disappointing that Toby Malloy implies that “the stress related to loss of income and loss of purpose combine to create feelings of hopelessness and helplessness that can contribute to psychosocial and emotional problems such as depression, anxiety, addiction and family violence” applies to only the farming industry. This applies to anyone who is employed in any profession.
If family farms and the agriculture industry are to survive and continue to provide some of the best and cheapest food to our fellow Albertans, Canadians and other countries around the world, Bill 6 needs to die instantly.
Kill Bill 6. Not family farms.
Eileen Walker
Strathmore, Alta
Cutting edge tech?
Cutting edge of technology is a joke.
In 2011, after lengthy studies by renowned scientists were released on the situation of Lake Winnipeg waters, the government decided to take a stand. This resulted in Save the Lake Winnipeg Act, Bill 46.
This act was implemented in June 2011. A portion of the act included the requirement for any new barns to have appropriate cutting-edge technology, as a treatment of manure, to assist in reducing the phosphorus that was promoting algae grow.
This “cutting edge of technology” now under consideration, is digging two large holes into the ground for retaining hog faeces. Is this a joke? Previous studies carried out and reported by Manitoba Conservation have determined that these installations leak, and therefore are a threat to our surface and groundwater source.
With considerations like this, it’s little wonder that our water sources are polluted and even more threatened.
John Fefchak,
Virden, Man.
Don’t mess with planet
It was unnerving to read that geoengineering is alive and well,even in Alberta. What we are messing with we do not know.
Recall the 1972 Morton Salt Disaster in Rapid City. A little cloudseeding experiment gone wrong.
The planet is not well and yet we push on. Push on and try to adapt the planet to our economy, instead of adapting the economy to the planet. And all these evil poisons with goodly names.
There is no throw away or stow away on this planet. It is there somewhere, maybe not in our backyards, but in some field where little kids will play.
The run for money will not even stop for the sake of the little ones. How tragically sad.
Angelica Herlihy
Grand Forks, B.C.
