Cyr on Bill 6

The Brunley1 farm is like almost every other farm in Alberta — the legacy of the generations that built it. To hear the Brunley’s tell it, they live in a little slice of paradise. Bordered by a highway, their lane leading to their farm is long and lined with trees. Beyond acres of wheat runs a valley with walking paths and a fire pit. It’s nudged up against a pond where, for generations, the kid’s learned to skate in the winter. Two gigantic grain bins and a strip of white tin barns where the chickens used to be. Frank Brunley’s childhood home stands not far from where the original homestead, built by his great grandparents, used to stand.

Frank’s wife, Angela, describes their home with all the love that usually comes with nostalgia. It is that hint at nostalgia and the talk of regulations that tugs at the heart strings. For the Brunleys, there is a real fear that their way of life could be snatched away by new regulations in just a few months. “The idea that the NDP might win this next election twists my stomach into knots.” says Angela.

She takes a deep breath. “When Bill 6 came down the pipe, we’d just left on a family vacation. I was reading it, thinking—we can’t go home to that. We may as well give up. The way it was written meant that we would have to hire someone we couldn’t afford to deal with all the red tape and paperwork that we didn’t have the time for. Beyond that, we discovered our kids wouldn’t even be able to jump on their trampoline because of where it was situated in relation to our home and our pond. It was clear they had no idea what farm families do and how it would affect us. What they wrote completely disregarded the family part of the farm.

The very thought that they wouldn’t care about their own safety does seem ludicrous. “We know what safety measures are necessary and which are only inhibiting the work. Like, we know that during harvest, trying to bring the crops in after midnight isn’t a good idea. Your yield goes down. Farmers don’t want that, so we won’t be running our equipment all through the night. We learned that from experience.

If you aren’t in the industry and don’t understand how farming works, it would be easy to misunderstand the Bill and its effects. It would be like me telling doctors what practices and procedures they need to implement, without having any medical background of my own.”

We all know stories like the Brunleys. They’re the ones told by our neighbours, friends, and families. People who are NDP supporters are good people, with good intentions. But, time and time again, NDP has always pushed policies that harm our rural communities. In this election, they intend to do the same thing. Make sure you vote for UCP May 23rd-27th and 29th to preserve our rural way of life.

1 The Brunley family is a fictional family but an amalgamation of actual Albertan Farming families. All quotes come directly from one or more of these real family members