Alberta's NDP government in local food fight over Bill 6, carbon tax and minimum wage

It's 7 Cwith a blanket of new snow covering the bald Alberta prairie. But in Paul Hotchkiss's greenhouses, a riot of pea shoots, wheat grass, green beansand the stripy heritage tomatoesfor which Hotchkiss is knownluxuriate under a plastic dome of sky.

In deep December, his operation is still feedingfruit and vegetables to local restaurants, shops and grocery chainsrubbing shoulders in the produce section with the competition from Mexico and California.

"I've been doing this 23years," Hotchkiss said.

"We've come through labour shortages, when energy was booming, and all the growing pains of bringing guys up from Mexico. About nine years ago, tobacco mosaic virus nearly wiped us out. We came through, but we're not going to survive this government."

Hotchkiss closing down

On Monday, Hotchkiss notified his customers that 2016 will be his last year in business. Come October, he'll hang up his gloves, clean out his sheds and greenhouses, and hold an auction. He cites the provincial NDP government's contentious Bill 6as the primary reason.

I've been doing this 23years... but we're not going to survive this government.- Paul Hotchkiss ofHotchkiss Herb and Produce

Thefarm and ranch workplace legislationhas already provoked considerable opposition from the agricultural industryover the extension of Worker's Compensation Board and Occupational Health and Safety coverage.

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But the province's greenhouse operators have different concerns. In their labour intensive industry, employers fear that the bill will extend employment standards that willrequirethem to pay staff overtime, vacation pay and statutory holiday payrules from which they are currently exempt.

Hotchkiss's labour bill amounted to$900,000 last year. Under the old regime, food growers like him whose operations often see summer work days stretch to 12and even 14hours were exempt from the requirement to pay overtime, levied at 1.5 times the hourly wage. He reckons paying overtime would have pushed that bill to $1.2-million, more than his gross annual revenue.

Other greenhouses worriedas well

It's a worry that's shared by his peers.

"The main concern that we have with our business, and I guess you could probably say industry wide, within our greenhouse sector, is just the changes that may happen in regards to overtime and holiday pay," saidPaulDoef,co-owner ofDoef'sGreenhouses inLacombe, Alta.

The government has been playing its cards close to its chest. Although Bill 6 has received royal assent, regulations andthe question of whether growers will be subject to broad employment standards, including overtime pay, haveyet to be fleshed out.

Agriculture Minister Oneil Carlier promises to consult the industryover the next 12to 18months before making further changes. He alsonotes an exemption for food producers from some employment standards is still a possibility.

Higher minimum wage

What farmers and greenhouse growers definitely won't get, he says,is any relief on the rising minimum wage. The minimum wage hike to $11.20 an hourearlier in the year caused some ripples among employers in the province.

But it was the promise to push it to $15 by 2018 that really raised hackles. Particularly since produce from Albertacompetes with imports from warmer climeswith much lower labour costs likeB.C.,just across the borderwhere the minimum wage is $10.45, and California, Florida and Mexico where labour costs are generally much lower still.

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Albert Cramer who runs two greenhouse operations in Medicine Hat points to the overall effect of the new government's changes.

"It's cumulative, right? All of these things are going to hurt our industry," he said.

He cites the hike to minimum wages, which would become especially damaging ifmagnified byan overtime provision that multiplies the base. He also voices another industry concern: the carbon tax.

You know what kind of local produce we're going to be eating here in winter at this rate? Rocks and sticks.- Paul Hotchkiss ofHotchkiss Herb and Produce

Natural gas is most commonly used to heat greenhouse operations,and the new carbon levy of $1.68 per gigajoule will add tens of thousands of dollars to fuel bills by 2018.

Eating rocks and sticks

Joel Beatson speaks for the Alberta Greenhouse Growers Association. He says many of his members will see their natural gas costs, which already account for roughly 20 per cent of expenses,"almost double by 2018."

Ultimately, he says"if oil stays at such a low level, it becomes cheaper to ship the product than to produce it locally."

Minister Carlier says it may be possible for growers totap afund the government promises to establish tohelp businesses adjust to the changes.

But Hotchkiss calls that cold comfort.

He says a tractor trailer travelling from the Mexican border to Calgary burns about as much energy as he uses in his greenhouses over just a couple of hours at this time of year, and it'll carry more produce than he grows in months.

"You know what kind of local produce we're going to be eating here in winter at this rate? Rocks and sticks."