Page Content
The following are excerpts from newspapers throughout Alberta. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the ATA.
Tory budget banks heavily on bitumen
“To call the first Redford budget ‘positive’ would be unduly restrained. Ebullient is more like it. Mary Poppins might find it cloying. Finance Minister Ron Liepert’s happy send-off comes with a gush of money for interest groups, a shrunken deficit of $886 million, rising revenue with no tax hikes, and a promise of lush surpluses next year and beyond. The PCs figure they’re bang on public opinion here. They believe Albertans are sick of the bad news and fiscal gloom of the Stelmach era. To hear Liepert tell it, the budget was virtually written by legions of other positive Albertans he met last fall … Therefore, his speech was full of good tidings and pep talks about the glorious future. It’s hard to imagine a budget more obviously tailored for an election. For the longer term, though, the niggling question is whether that future is based on fact or fantasy. The budget is called ‘Investing in People,’ but the title could just as well be ‘Banking on Bitumen.’ If the projections of spectacular oilsands riches do not work out, this province is heading for more trouble. … Much of the budget is admirable and welcome. … The PCs also pledge three-year funding for education and post-secondary, and kept their promise of steady health-care money. If they hold course, these crucial sectors can finally embark on steady improvement.”
—Don Braid, Calgary Herald, February 10, 2012
No major pay hikes for teachers in Alberta budget
“In what Education Minister Thomas Lukaszuk has said would be his ‘final offer’ to the province’s 36,000 teachers, today’s [February 9] provincial budget allows for little or no increase in their salaries over the next three years. The long-promised ‘predictable’ funding for Alberta’s elementary and secondary schools includes hikes to base instructional and class size funding of one per cent over the coming 12 months and two per cent in each of the next two years, which the department expects will cover any rise in school board salary costs after the current teacher’s deal expires in August. ‘This budget focuses on our commitment to students and ensures school boards have enough funding to manage growth in the years to come,’ Lukaszuk said in a government press release. ‘We are assuring parents that dollars are going where they will have the greatest impact—on students in the classroom.’”
—Matt McClure, Calgary Herald, February 9, 2012
First Nations education operates in a “patchwork”
“First Nations youth have great potential, but lack the resources to succeed, according to a report on First Nations elementary and secondary education released [February 8]. … The chair of the three-member panel, Scott Haldane, president of YMCA Canada, said currently First Nations education operates in a ‘patchwork’ which suffers due to a lack of stable, predictable funding from government. … he said he saw ‘lots of evidence of underfunding’ in the system. The 55-page report’s main recommendations are to commit funds for First Nations education in the upcoming [federal] budget, set up an interim First Nations education commission within three months, introduce a ‘child-centred’ First Nation Education Act within 18 months and form regional education boards which would monitor progress. … Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development John Duncan called the report’s timeline ‘tight’ and ‘aspirational.’ He did not commit to supplying the necessary funds, but he did say the government’s priority is to ‘provide First Nation students with quality education that enables them to acquire the skills they need to enter the labour market and be full participants in a strong Canadian economy.’ Haldane said the panel tried to balance the urgency of the situation with the reality of building an entirely new system. ‘We don’t want to lose any more kids,’ he said.”
—Edmonton Journal, February 8, 2012
