MLA disagrees with scope of labour law consultations

Efforts are underway to modernize labour laws and Barrhead-Morinville-Westlock MLA Glenn van Dijken says public policy has a significant effect on the ability of businesses to compete.

In a press release issued by the Wildrose Party Feb. 13, van Dijken said Alberta lost 24,000 full-time jobs last month and he believes the provincial government should be consulting with all stakeholders rather than union heads and former NDP party members.

“It is quite concerning that we are losing mortgage-paying jobs in large numbers like this and we are simply asking the government to move carefully in this regard,” he said, adding the province is still recovering from what he called ‘bad decisions’ using the carbon tax as an example.

“We have known for a while that they [NDP] are working on what they call modernization of the labour laws and regulations and the whole point of the press release was to allow Albertans to know that we are expecting the government to not just consult with their former party members and the union bosses, because we believe consultations should be had with all Albertans — small and large business and everyone else too,” he said.

van Dijken said it is important to not push forward with changes that will send tremors through the economy and hamper the province’s ability to create jobs, adding the NDP plan to scrap secret ballots for unionizing workplaces should be rejected.

“They shouldn’t be cancelling that. It puts undue pressure on people and is not a healthy way to move forward. That’s not how we handle political elections so why should we do it with these types of things? Legislation should not be bulldozed through without proper consultation from the people that will ultimately be affected.”

Bill 6, the Enhanced Protection for Farm and Ranch Workers Act, van Dijken said, showed the province’s willingness to move forward with significant changes with no regard to the impact.

“There was a big push back from the industry and we believe the government should avoid making a similar mistake,” he said, adding in his opinion Bill 6 was more involved than how it was sold to Albertans.

“There was more to it than just safety regulations and it took people by surprise. Consultations need to be open and transparent,” he added.