Women of ABpoli: Hot Flashes - Issue #22
This Week in AB
Calgary Board of Education wants parents to quell the vaccine conversations their kids are having at school
Don't poke the mama bears.
Rumour has it that the CBE is attempting to stop bullying by asking parents to intervene in the vaccine conversations - after all, it's not the kids' fault their parents aren't willing to protect them from preventable disease.
But take a step back, CBE, and remember your first priority is EDUCATION - it's the only reason you exist.
If a public health crisis that affects every part of these children's lives is interrupting your classrooms, perhaps you need to scrap the classrooms altogether or tell the Alberta government to do their jobs.
Your job is to ensure kids get an education - if you need to advocate for clear rules on public health so you can provide that, then get on with it.
Zero tolerance policy ? Poor leadership, once again. #ableg”
Alberta teachers have enough on their plate, but they're going to have to take a stand against the UCP's unconscionable curriculum
I was on the doors in the lead up to the 2019 election and had an enlightening conversation with a teacher from the Calgary Catholic School District. She told me she "had to" vote NDP (not who I was on the doors for) because of the new curriculum. She said it was an incredible curriculum and she was excited to see it brought into classrooms.
Yes, this is anecdotal, but so is the fact that 98 per cent of school boards refused to pilot the UCP's patchwork of garbage.
I'll give the government kudos for trying to get a pilot (because apparently that isn't something any other government has bothered with), but when almost every board in the province rejects it, political spin isn't going to save your lying, incompetent face.
And it's not just Alberta - the territories were involved in curriculum development in 2016, and have, since the UCP's revision, decided to look elsewhere for a better fit for their students.
The real problem comes up when (and if, but probably "when") the government pushes the curriculum on the schools. We are relying on the teachers to stand up against it - and there's only one way they can do that: with a strike.
There's still time to email your MLA and let them know if you support the two per cent or if you will stand with the majority of Alberta teachers who have rejected the UCP's grossly inept attempt at revising a curriculum in months that was almost a decade in the making.
Brian Jean wins UCP nomination but isn't absolutely definitely the UCP candidate for Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche
You may recall that Environment Minister Jason Nixon made a lot of references to the fact that political parties are "private clubs" in his breathless and (seemingly) anxiety-filled end-of-session press conference on December 8.
Even if you don't recall; well, he did.
These "private clubs" control everything; who can be a member, who can be a candidate, who can run in a nomination race to be a candidate, who will be premier... literally everything about our "democratic" options are controlled by a handful of people most of us have never heard of.
In the case of Brian Jean winning the nomination as the UCP candidate who wants to get rid of Jason Kenney, it's still not guaranteed that he will actually be the candidate because Jason Kenney gets the last say on the candidate.
For his part, Kenney has said he would welcome whomever the riding members chose.
If another UCP leadership race is spawned in Red Deer this coming April, (which I doubt, but maybe Jean has been paying attention to how the game is played) then, I guess we'll see what happens in round two.
Just a reminder, if another leadership race does happen, the winner is automatically the Premier of Alberta, because the party system actually sucks.
Speaking of "sucks"...
This is just a pool of incestuous slime.
Kenney's former Chief of Staff-turned lobbyist plays a part.
Kenney's quasi-accredited brother who likes to run "recovery centres" plays a part.
And of course, Kenney himself played a part, and, obviously, still does.
Canada
Giving notice
Just... why?
Tangled webs, again
At the start of the Delgamuukw case, the court allowed oral testimony, recognizing that before logs and journals, there was another, legitimate form, of passing historical knowledge.
B.C. has a unique case and it's well worth learning about - even, if not especially, as an immigrant to this land.
Final thought
“All I want for Christmas is a silent night in Alberta politics.”