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UCP leadership candidate Daniel Smith speaks at a campaign rally in Chestermere on Tuesday, August 9, 2022. Photo by Azin Ghaffari /Postmedia
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Presumptive UCP leadership front-runner Danielle Smith was booed Wednesday at an event filled with promises to restore relations between the government and the Alberta teachers union.
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At the Alberta Teachers Association (ATA) summer conference in Banff, six of the seven candidates hoping to become UCP leader and premier faced delegate-selected questions about public education.
Some in the crowd had a vocal response when Smith offered an anecdote about a student she said entered 9th grade without basic reading skills.
“Are kids becoming popular without basic reading skills?” she asked. When she said she had heard from parents who were trying to teach their kids math and “the kids were getting the answer wrong but they were getting grades,” some voiced disapproval.
“That’s why there was a huge pushback from parents to get more structured math programming,” she said.
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When Smith said she spoke with Postmedia columnist David Staples about the K-12 curriculum, she was met with laughter and groans.
“Respect is a two-way street, guys,” Smith said in response.
“If you’re wondering why there’s a push for people to have other choices, it’s because parents feel like their views and values aren’t being reflected in the classroom,” she said, adding that she’s open to ways of dealing with that to maintain parents’ confidence in the public school system.
After the forum, ATA President Jason Schilling accused UCP of failing teachers, but said he hoped the candidates would support education.
“We will hold you accountable,” he said.
Schilling later told reporters that the UCP leadership candidates were not experts in the field.
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“Some of the things that were said today did not reflect the reality in our schools,” he said.
The candidates have taken turns promising closer consultation with teachers and lamenting some of the most controversial issues to emerge under UCP’s tenure so far, including how the K-12 curriculum is designed.
When Central-Peace Notley Independent MLA Todd Loewen asked the crowd if they thought the curriculum should be thrown out and started from scratch, he got a resounding yes.
“And that’s where we’re going to disagree,” he said, proposing to fix problems with curriculum and implementation by involving teachers in the process.
The candidates also spoke about the UCP government’s decision to place the Alberta Teachers’ Retirement Fund (ATRF) under the umbrella of the government’s investment manager Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo).
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“If you want to know the deepest disrespect we could have inflicted on our teachers, this was it,” Chestermere-Strathmore UCP MLA Leela Aheer said to applause from the room.
However, Smith said that if there had been better earnings at AIMCo, it might not have been so controversial.
“AIMCo may need to be reinstated or we may need to take a closer look at their governance if they do not have the public’s confidence,” Smith said.
Former children’s services minister Rebecca Schultz disagreed, saying it was not about return on investment.
“The question was about consultations,” she said.
Fort McMurrary-Lac La Biche UCP MLA Brian Jean said this would never have happened if he was premier, and former transport minister Rajan Sawhney called the pension move “absolutely the wrong decision”.
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On funding issues, Schultz reiterated his promise to get 3,500 more educational assistants and teachers into classrooms.
“Education is one area where more funding may be needed,” she said, adding that she would double capital funding for building and renovating schools.
Ahier said education funding should keep pace with inflation and population and enrollment growth.
“Our children should not be subjected to austerity,” she said.
Former Treasury Secretary Travis Toews, who is also running for party leader, did not attend the event.
lijohnson@postmedia.com
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