The Notley Government has amended the Enhanced Protection for Farm and Ranch Workers Act or Bill 6 to more explicitly spell out the rules.

Jobs Minister Lori Sigurdson says she takes full responsibility for mis-statements that have been made since the bill was first rolled out.

Sigurdson says the amendments explicitly exclude owners of farming or ranching operations, and their family members, from the mandatory application of Workers Compensation Board and Occupational Health and Safety rules.

"It's not legislating families, you know, family farms but once we do have this legislation in place and Occupational Health and Safety, when there is a wage worker that's a non-family member we can work with farmers and ranchers to do further education," Sigurdson says.

She says only wage, non-family workers will have to enrolled with the W.C.B. while family members, whether paid or unpaid, and unpaid friends and neighbours do not require W.C.B coverage although farm and ranch owners can obtain coverage if they want to they can.

"We're always concerned when anyone loses their life on a farm or a ranch," she says. "Our hearts go out to the families that lost children this year, what we're doing is creating a culture of safety on farms and we're working with paid, non-family members and we know that if we do this it will create more of a culture of that and I think that will have impacts."

Amendments have also been introduced to assure farmers' and ranchers' neighbours can still volunteer to help each other out, without being subject to the new rules.

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