After nine days of empty classrooms, Alberta’s teachers’ union bosses proved once again they care less about education and more about their own power.While thousands of teachers walked out and over 750,000 Alberta kids lost another week of critical learning, the Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA) showed zero urgency to settle the strike. Tuesday’s meeting with government officials — the first since the walkout — felt more like theatre than negotiation. .HILTON-O’BRIEN: Big money in little politics.No details. No progress. Just the same old union rhetoric designed to distract from their real priorities..The government offered a generous deal, with a 12% raise over four years, 3,000 new hires to ease overcrowding, and a $2.6 billion commitment to education. The ATA came back and added an additional $2 billion on top of what the Alberta government proposed, which is clearly not realistic.Alberta’s families are cutting back just to afford groceries, but the ATA isn’t satisfied. Instead, union leadership wants to blow the budget by demanding 5,000 new teachers — money no one has. Real world families understand you can’t just print cash and hope the bills disappear. Apparently, the union brass do not..BERNARDO: Canada's firearms fiasco: Political and bureaucratic blinders vs truth.What’s really going on here? The answer is ugly in that education is taking a back seat to politics.Union bigwigs, cheered on by left-wing activists, have shifted focus from teaching math, science, and English to promoting progressive agendas and identity politics. Alberta used to top Canadian rankings in basic literacy and numeracy. .Now, the union obsesses over “2SLGBTQ+ inclusion” programs and activist-run curriculum rewrites. School conferences feature more gender theory workshops than science labs. The priorities are upside down..OLDCORN: Eby can’t veto a nation-building pipeline.Parents aren’t stupid. They see through the distraction. Ask families struggling to help kids with homeschool math, or those who had to cancel work because schools are shut. They want quality teaching, not virtue signalling from paid union lobbyists.Meanwhile, actual evidence shows students falling behind. A recent Fraser Institute report notes a steady slide in Alberta’s math and reading results. .Government plans to hire 3,000 teachers would help, but that’s not enough for the union, who seem more interested in hiring activists to sit at every desk.Here’s the hard truth. The ATA and its leftist allies have turned public schools into battlegrounds, not learning environments. This isn’t about “student needs.” It’s about flexing muscle by threatening parents with classroom chaos unless their political laundry lists are met..PINDER: The dangerous myth of carbon dioxide.Albertans should not be bullied by union insiders playing games with kids’ futures. Our families pay the bills, and our kids deserve classrooms focused on academics, not politics. Schools should be places to learn, not arenas for the latest leftist ideological trend..The Alberta government needs to hold firm. Caving now would set a dangerous precedent by rewarding union stonewalling and encouraging more walkouts whenever a political fad comes along. If the ATA refuses to negotiate in good faith, maybe it’s time to call their bluff. Bring in independent educators willing to teach, help kids catch up, and leave the parade of slogans behind..BURTON: Alberta’s failing classrooms: The decline of education goes far beyond funding.Union bosses had their chance. They chose ideology over young learners. Alberta’s students can’t afford more delays. It’s time to put classrooms and real education first.
