Protesters from across Alberta gathered Saturday in the southwest Calgary community of West Springs, located in the provincial electoral district of Calgary-Bow. — seat held by Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides since 2019.
At the meeting, hosted by Public Interest Alberta, members and supporters of the Alberta Teachers Association (ATA) knocked on doors and left yellow signs throughout the trip in support of strengthening public education.
About 51,000 teachers in public, independent and French-language schools. Alberta has been on strike since Oct. 6, keeping 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 attempt to “correct the course” of the province's public education, likening it to a ship “at risk of sinking.”
“This [Alberta Premier] It's a strike by Danielle Smith and it's a strike by Minister Nicolaides,” Lafortune said.
“They had the power to stop it before it started. But instead, we've been on strike for the last three weeks, talking about challenging classrooms, overcrowded classrooms, fair funding, and sustainable and fair funding for public education.”
“This Monday, as they return to the legislature, they are poised to make a bad situation even worse. introduction of the return to work law it would effectively take away the right of teachers to strike and force them back to work,” he said.
He means Bill 2or the Back to School Bill, which the province intends to introduce on Monday.
“So why are we here? We are here to hold them accountable,” Lafortune said. “We are here to urge the public to tell this minister and this prime minister to do the right thing again and not the wrong thing.”
LaFortune said the “right thing to do” is to negotiate an agreement without legislating returning teachers to work and make a firm commitment to increase funding for public education in Alberta.
“This government refuses to listen to teachers, families and students, and we are here today to ask the minister and the prime minister to listen to the public,” Lafortune said.
Organizers say the protest is not related to the recall petition.
A petition for revocation Nicolaides' tenure as Calgary-Bow MLA is currently ongoing. Petition organizers who collected signatures on site told CBC News the protest was unrelated to their recall efforts.
This petition was officially published on October 23 after receiving approval a week earlier, making it the first recall petition to be approved Alberta Chief Electoral Office under recently amended Revocation Law.
Organizers of the petition have until January 21, 2026. — 90 day period — collect 16,006 signatures, equal to 60 per cent of voters who cast ballots in the last provincial election. If successful, this would lead to an election referendum to determine whether to recall the MLA and hold a by-election.
Education working group will consider 'combination' of solutions, PM says
on it radio call program 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.
“WWe heard loud and clear from teachers that the problem is complexity, but not every issue can be discussed at the table,” she said.
The Prime Minister pointed out ATA’s refusal to participate in “extended mediation” Teachers were asked to return to classrooms last week as negotiations with the province continue.
“WWe have to make sure that we balance the rights of taxpayers, we balance the rights of parents and we balance the rights of students,” she said. “And now we're at a point where unless they voluntarily agree with us to go back to work and do this kind of mediation … we're just going to have to bring them back.” [to work]”
With the Alberta government expected to pass back-to-work legislation on Monday aimed at ending the teachers' strike, how soon will students and teachers return to classrooms? A labor expert reveals what could happen after a potential bill passes.
The premier said the province continues to urge the ATA to accept its proposals, which include a 12 percent pay increase over four years and funding for 3,000 new teachers.
“And then let's work together on how we go school by school and classroom by classroom in solving this problem because every classroom is going to have different solutions,” Smith said.
That could involve a “combination” of solutions, she said, including more classrooms, smaller classes, more learning assistants or specialized learning environments for students with complex needs.
“These are things that require us to work together in a detailed task force after we settle the wage issue, and we hope that will happen. This is wrong”.
Smith said she hopes to begin working with the task force. “find out exactly what teachers need in each classroom… as early as next week.”
