Author: Jeff Milner

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Alberta Uses Notwithstanding Clause to Attack Constitutional Rights and Freedoms

I watched the livestream yesterday as the UCP ruling party voted to take away our constitutionally protected right to collective bargaining and the freedom to gather and strike. I’m livid.

The Alberta Teachers’ Association president, Jason Schilling, shared his thoughts in a news scrum yesterday:

https://youtu.be/Hy1YKLrbGuQ?si=iEeVKSbVv5uwgnKQ

Now that they’ve taken this unprecedented step, what rights will they take away next?

It looks like the Alberta Federation of Labour is preparing a response. If the teachers can’t strike then the unions that are still allowed to strike will take up that mantle. This fight is not over and it looks like it’s going to be ugly.

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Election Results

Alas, I didn’t get enough votes to make it on to the School Board. I was short by 368 votes.

Candidate Ballots Counted
Cheryl MEHEDEN 5460
Christine LIGHT 4494
Kristina LARKIN 4467
Allison PURCELL 4412
Brooke CULLEY 3926
Craig H. WHITEHEAD 3892
Tiffany HILL 3422
Genny STEED 3365
Locke SPENCER 3262
Jeff MILNER 3055
Michelle (Magpie) BROWNE 2906
Emmanuel ANOM 2642
Sam WOODRUFF 2600

Nevertheless, I’m happy that I participated in the campaign. When I finally decided to make my run official, I only had a few weeks to campaign. If I had it to do over I would have jumped in sooner and done more campaigning all over the city. The fear of failure that haunted me before I started, it turns out, isn’t as scary as I thought.

I also appreciated the support I felt from some of the candidates that I got to know these last few weeks. Cheryl, Kristina, Allison, Brooke, and Locke were all particularly kind in going out of their way to meet me and give words of encouragement.

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The Waiting Game

It’s been a couple days since the election. I got word from my contact at City Hall that the count is still ongoing this morning. They have completed the count for Mayor and are still working on votes for council, public school, and separate school. He didn’t know if they would complete the count during the morning shift (8:30-12:30 pm) or if they would continue into the afternoon shift (which goes from 1-5pm). He doesn’t expect they’ll be counting into the evening so we should find out the results today.

It’s debatable if the slow and expensive hand count makes our elections more secure, but I would certainly entertain a hybrid approach where the ballots are counted on voting day and then the government can feel free to do a hand count afterward if they don’t trust the numbers. Just my two cents.

Here are the results as they appear now. They will be updated when the counting is done.

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Countdown to Election Day

I got out and voted yesterday.

The campaign has been a wonderful opportunity to meet a lot of different people and to discuss the state of education right now. I’ve been appreciative of the chance to share my point of view that legislation that harms kids goes against teacher’s duty to provide safe and caring classrooms. I’m hopeful that Lethbridge’s new board will be a strong voice of advocacy for teachers and students.

Our official Voting day in Lethbridge takes place on Monday but early voting is now open.

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Teachers Rally

The third teacher rally this week will be held this evening at 5:30pm at the Lethbridge Tourist Centre.

All are welcome to come out and show support for Alberta’s teachers and for public education. Here is the ATA’s poster for the event:

I attended the rallies on Sunday and Wednesday and as a teacher and advocate for public education was so happy to see the large turnout and public support.

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The Unconventional Panel’s Take on the Teacher Strike

My friend Chelsea Matisz is a returning contributor to CBC Radio One Calgary’s Unconventional Panel. She spoke on the show this morning about how the strike is affecting her and her family.

When the [government] stopped tracking class sizes in 2019 it made it impossible for accountability and now we have this problem. It shouldn’t be a surprise that we’ve gotten to this point. There should have been schools being built and teachers being hired and so the fact that we are at this point where the teachers are on strike is a failure of the government to be able to see that they needed to collect data and account for what’s happening. To me it’s clear, you know we have a minister that said, ‘classroom sizes don’t affect academic outcomes. There is no evidence for this.’ There is evidence for this.

She went on to discuss the $460 million that the government has invested in private schools. Private schools by definition are only available to a limit portion of the population. If one doesn’t meet the criteria or can’t afford their high tuitions, they can’t go and yet public funds are propping up these ventures. It’s not right.

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Rally for Teachers

Teachers from Lethbridge, Palliser, Horizon, Livingstone Range, Holy Spirit and Westward School Divisions were all out in solidarity all over Alberta during the weekend as the teacher strike was about to start on Monday. I attended the rally at Henderson Lake with my family to support my colleagues and students in what will likely be a lasting work stoppage.

The government announced yesterday that they would be initiating a lockout for teachers. A lockout is an employer-initiated action that legally restricts employees from performing their work or receiving pay from the employer.

Because teachers are already on strike and not performing duties, the lockout does not change teachers’ current status but it does make it more clear the hostile position the government is taking toward teachers.

The lockout will take effect at 1:00 p.m. on October 9.

I support teachers and this lockout is only widening the gap in what teachers and students in Alberta deserve.

There will be another rally tomorrow (October 8) at Henderson Lake from 12-1pm. There won’t be any speeches this time, just getting out and being visible to the public.

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Signs

My campaign is off and running and today I picked up my campaign signs. Here is one of them:1

Send me a note if you’d like to have one in your yard.

  1. Thanks to everyone who gave me feedback on the design.[↩]