Alberta politician calls on Frito-Lay to boycott Alberta potatoes on child labour concerns

An Alberta politician, the Liberal MLA David Swann, called on snack-food giant Frito Lay, a subsidiary of PepsiCo., to boycott Alberta potatoes because child labour remains unregulated on provincial farms.

The New Democrats later joined the Alberta Federation of Labour in renewing calls for farm workers to be included under occupational health and safety legislation — something labour advocates have demanded for years and the premier promised during the spring campaign.

“Premier Redford paid lip service to farm workers during the election and now the screen has gone dark on any information about what is going on,” said NDP agriculture critic David Eggen.

“We’re calling for farm workers to enjoy the same rights that everyone else does in the province of Alberta.”

Human Services Minister Dave Hancock countered the attacks, suggesting that while he is open to looking at changes to the laws, the province has to remain sensitive to the plight of the family farm.

“One doesn’t want to interfere with the normal family business or family farm,” Hancock said.

“We’re certainly looking at all aspects of agri-business and agri-industry to determine whether we have the right regulations, or whether we need to change regulations with respect to worker safety, worker compensation or other occupational health and safety standards.”

But the minister was to quick to condemn Swann’s proposed boycott of Alberta potatoes.

“I think it’s unfair to Alberta producers, and Albertans, to write a letter to one of the chief buyers saying ‘don’t buy anything from Alberta in this area because someone might be using child labour.’”