Protesters from across Alberta gathered Saturday in the southwest Calgary community of West Springs, located in the Calgary-Bow provincial electoral district. — a seat that has been occupied by the Minister of Education, Demetrios Nicolaides since 2019.
At the meeting, organized by Public Interest Alberta, members and supporters of the Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA) knocked on doors and left yellow signs throughout the route in support of strengthening public education.
Around 51,000 teachers from public, separate and French-speaking schools Across Alberta they have been on strike since Oct. 6, leaving about 750,000 K-12 students out of school for more than three weeks.
Bradley Lafortune, executive director of Public Interest Alberta, said the meeting was an effort to “course-correct” the province’s public education, likening it to a ship “that is at risk of sinking.”
“This is [Alberta Premier] Danielle Smith’s strike and this is Minister Nicolaides’ strike,” Lafortune said.
“They had the power to end it before it started. But instead, we have been on strike for the last three weeks talking about complex classrooms, overcrowded classrooms, fair funding, and sustainable and equitable funding for public education.”
“This Monday, going back to the legislature, they are about to make a bad situation even worse by introducing back-to-work legislation that will effectively take away teachers’ right to strike and force them to return to work,” he said.
It refers to Bill 2, or the Back to School Act, which the province intends to introduce on Monday.
“So why are we here? We’re here to hold them accountable,” Lafortune said. “We are here to ask the public to tell this minister and this prime minister to get back to doing the right thing instead of the wrong.”
LaFortune said the “right thing to do” is to negotiate a deal without legislating to get teachers back to work and to make a firm commitment to increasing funding for public education in Alberta.
“This government refuses to listen to teachers, families and students, and today we are here to ask that the minister and the prime minister listen to the public,” Lafortune said.
Protest not affiliated with recall petition, organizers say
A petition is currently underway to recall Nicolaides as a Calgary-Bow MLA. Petition organizers, who were on site collecting signatures, told CBC News the protest was not affiliated with their recall efforts.
That petition was officially issued on October 23, after receiving approval the previous week, making it the first recall petition application approved by Alberta Chief Electoral Officer under the recently amended Retirement Law.
The organizers of the petition have until January 21, 2026. — a period of 90 days — to collect 16,006 signatures, which translates into 60 percent of voters voting in the last provincial elections. If successful, that would trigger a referendum within the district to determine whether the MLA should be removed and a by-election held.
Education task force will explore ‘a combination’ of solutions, PM says
about her radio call show Your province, your prime minister On Saturday morning, Smith said the province is moving forward with its plan to introduce back-to-work legislation on Monday.
“w“We have heard from teachers loud and clear that the issue revolves around complexity, but not all issues can be negotiated at the negotiating table,” he said.
The premier highlighted the ATA’s refusal to engage in “enhanced mediation” last week, which would have asked teachers to return to classrooms while talks with the province continued.
“w“We have to make sure that we are balancing the rights of taxpayers, balancing the rights of parents and balancing the rights of students,” he said. “And now we’re at a point where if they don’t voluntarily agree with us to come back to work and do that type of mediation… we’re just going to have to get them back.” [to work]”.
With the Alberta government expected to introduce back-to-work legislation on Monday aimed at ending the teachers’ strike, how soon could it be before students and teachers return to class? A labor expert lays out what could happen once the potential bill passes.
The premier said the province continues to encourage the ATA to accept its proposals, which include a 12 percent salary increase over four years and funding for 3,000 new teachers.
“And then let’s work together to address it, school by school and classroom by classroom, because each classroom will have different solutions,” Smith said.
That could include a “mix” of solutions, including more classrooms, smaller classrooms, more educational assistants or specialized learning environments for students with complex needs, he said.
“Those are things that require us to work together in a detailed working group after we’ve eliminated the wage agreement, and that’s what we hope will happen. It hasn’t happened.”
Smith said he hopes to begin working with that task force. “to find out what teachers need in each of their classrooms…as soon as next week.”
