Edmonton — The controversial Education Act, seems to be setting off the first skirmish between the re-elected Tory government and new Wildrose Opposition.
Education Minister Thomas Lukaszuk, who is hoping to be reappointed to the post by Premier Alison Redford, said in an interview he wants the 30-plus new MLAs elected Monday to have a chance to look at the legislation.
Lukaszuk said the bill would go through the PC caucus and cabinet’s agenda and priorities committee before being brought back to the assembly. If the timing works, it would make it to the legislature in the spring sitting that Redford announced this week.
“I would like to introduce it, have it fully debated in the chamber and then hopefully passed,” said Lukaszuk, adding it’s possible that some revisions will be brought forward.
“Whether they will be adopted or not, that’s another story.”
Bill 2 set off a major firestorm in March in the final weeks of the legislature session. The fight — led by Christian home-schooling groups — revolved around the bill’s inclusion of language that required programs of study to respect the Alberta Human Rights Act.
The Wildrose party backed the concerns that it would affect parents’ ability to teach children according to their values.
The Tory government moved to amend the bill with a preamble saying the government “recognizes that parents have a right to choose the religious and ethical traditions in which their children are raised,” but the bill died in a last-minute flurry of finger-pointing between the two sides.
Lukaszuk said the concerns were overblown, noting the Human Rights Act already applies to education and that parents in any case already have the right to remove their children from any instruction that relates to sexuality, sexual orientation or religion.
He said the government’s amended preamble may be dropped, since it was criticized by opponents of the bill as useless.
Lukaszuk said he expects Wildrose to continue its opposition to the bill in its current form.
“If they have learned something from this election they may not, but I imagine they will,” he said.
Wildrose party Leader Danielle Smith, whose party was burned by hot-button social conservative issues during the campaign, said this week she expects the Education Act to be reintroduced this spring.
“We’re going to continue to try to press for some of the changes that should have been made before it was introduced,” she said.
Paul van de Bosch, a spokesman for the Alberta Home Education Association, said the organization would still like the reference to the Human Rights Act taken out of the bill, but is willing to work with the government even if the legislation passes unchanged.
“Home educators in Alberta have it pretty good here . . . we’re given a great amount of freedom. Home educators in Alberta like their situation and we simply just want a few changes in order to protect that situation,” he said.
The bill had also raised concerns from Catholic school boards relating to shared facilities, which the Tories attempted to mollify through amendments.
The Liberals, NDP and Alberta Teachers Association also criticized the legislation for being too focused on private education.
Alberta Schools Board Association president Jacquie Hansen said the bill may still need some tweaking, but said she would welcome its quick return to the legislature.
“We’re looking at this act from the point of view that it offers us more local autonomy, it allows students to stay in school until they’re 21 if that’s required, it gives us natural person power,” Hansen said. “So it’s those overall principles that we feel are very good.”
The legislation is not the only outstanding education issue facing the new government.
The current contract with teachers that was struck in 2007 expires at the end of August.
Lukaszuk said he expects a new tripartite agreement between the provincial government, school boards and the Alberta Teachers Association will be reached as opposed to one-off deals between individual school boards and the association.
“I’m hoping for a long-term agreement because the last four or five years in education were phenomenal . . . because labour issues were off the table,” said Lukaszuk, who wants a four- or five-year deal.
ATA president Carol Henderson said the organization believes a provincial framework for bargaining can work, but the ball is in the government’s court.
“If they call us to the table, we’re not going to say no,” she said.
“The biggest issues are learning conditions. It’s class size, it’s support for special needs and for English language learners and it’s a workload issue . . . it’s not necessarily about salary.”
Redford’s pledge of 50 new schools and renovations to 70 more, funded out of surpluses expected to begin in 2013, was a centrepiece of the PC campaign.
Once a new cabinet is sworn in, the government will begin determining where the new schools are needed, said Lukaszuk.
The ministry has asked school boards to submit their capital plans by the end of this month, which is earlier than normal, he said.
Communities getting new schools will also be canvassed about other capital needs, as the government wants to develop them as multi-purpose facilities that could also hold services such as daycares, seniors’ activity centres and medical clinics, said Lukaszuk.
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