The Alberta Government has released it's most recent update on workplace incidents and fatalities, and President of the Alberta Federation of Labour Gil McGowan says it's proof that the controversial farm worker law is needed. He says the update shows two fatalities from agricultural work places being investigated, which means that farm workers are finally being given the same dignity and respect that workers in other sectors have been taking forgranted.

"Before this new farm worker law, the reality was that paid agricultural workers in Alberta were second-class citizens. Their lives didn't matter. If they died, their deaths were not investigated, if they were injured they were not eligible for coverage under WCB. I think that the vast majority of Albertans agree that that was an unconscionable situation."

McGowan says with all of the knee-jerk backlash against this bill, a lot of pressure has been put on the government to back-pedal. He says as someone who grew up on a farm and understands how they work, he wants to make sure the government doesn't lose it's nerve while implementing the rest of Bill 6.

McGowan says investigations into the deaths of agricultural workers is proof that the controversial farm worker law is needed.

"The fact that these agricultural fatalities are actually being investigated where before they would not have been demonstrates the need for this new farm worker law, and it also frankly demonstrates that it's working."

He says before the law came into effect on January 1, paid agricultural workers weren't given the same rights as other workers across the province.

"We've said for years that there was just no justification for the situation which we had before, which was that paid agricultural workers were denied the same basic protections and rights under Alberta's workplace laws that workers in every other sector of the economy took forgranted."

McGowan says the government has fleshed out regulations to make the law active in dealing with occupational health and safety and workers compensation, but he wants to make sure they don't lose their nerve when finalizing regulations for broader employment standards like minimum wage, hours of work, and vacation pay. He says since Bill 6 came into effect, there have been over 150 successful WCB claims from farm and ranch workers.