#calgary-bow

Mr. Nenshi: This government has continually attacked teachers, and for a government that talks about freedom while curtailing it every day, perhaps they have forgotten that people have choices. Mr. Speaker, what trained professional teacher would ever – ever –sign up to work for this government?

Mr. Nicolaides: Well, Mr. Speaker, first and foremost, I reject the characterization that we engineered this strike. We’ve been bargaining with the Alberta Teachers’ Association for 18 months. At the very end we had invited the Alberta Teachers’ Association to participate in enhanced mediation, and they rejected.

...

Ms Hayter: Given that Alberta’s classrooms are more complex than ever and given that Katharina, a grade 10 student from Calgary-Edgemont, wrote, “My class size used to be 20 to 25 kids; now there are sometimes more than 40, and students like me cannot get the help we need,” when will the government stop denying what every parent, teacher, and student can see, that overcrowded, underresourced classrooms are failing Alberta students?

Member Batten: Mr. Speaker, when a parent leaves their child in the hands of a care provider, they expect that they will be safe and they will be protected. While that is mostly the case in this province, multiple serious instances of child abuse events this past year have left parents feeling helpless. What’s worse is these shocking events have raised concerns about gaps in the Early Learning and Child Care Act, which this government has failed to do anything about. When can we expect the Minister of Education and Childcare to step up and do something about it?

Ms Chapman: Given that in 2023 the NDP put forward a private member’s bill, Bill 202, that asked the government to return to collecting and publicly reporting data on class size and complexity and given that this government responded to the bill by saying that it “introduces burdensome reporting mechanisms that threaten to divert precious resources away from the core of our educational mission,” will the minister pinpoint for Albertans the exact moment he realized voting down Bill 202 was a huge mistake?

Mr. Nicolaides: The NDP are shaking their head. Of course, one can ascertain for themselves what their position is on democratic accountability.

Mr. Sabir: So rich.

Mr. Nicolaides: One can also ascertain from their heckling what their view is of democratic accountability.

Ms Chapman: Come on. It’s the first night sitting. A little latitude for sass.

The Speaker: Hon. members, if you’d like to have private conversations, I encourage you to do so in your respective lounges, the peace lounge. There are a number of places enabled to do. . . [interjections] Order. You’re being unhelpful.

Mr. Nicolaides: I’m sorry. I’ll try better.