Joe McFarland

Letter to the Editor: Teachers don’t want to strike, but might have to Teachers love being in the classroom and see their profession as a public service.

As we head into what will surely be an emotional weekend for teachers, parents, students and everyone who cares about the education system in #Alberta, time to re-up my letter to the editor that was also sent to the Premier, @naheednenshi.bsky.social & more. #ABleg

When Disrespect Becomes Policy: How Government Neglect Sparked Labour Unrest As Albertans brace for the first teacher strike in nearly 25 years, a new opinion piece on Parkland’s blog gives a frontline perspective on the government’s long war against public education.

A really good read about the state of education in Alberta and how I think many teachers are feeling right now. The numbers are the numbers, but the sheer disrespect shown, especially since 2019, needs to be addressed. #ABleg #Alberta www.parklandinstitute.ca/disrespect

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Quick math (just because it’s fun) in my wife’s classroom:

$30/day for each kid
X 25 kids in her class
= $750/day
X 182 instructional days (in my wife’s case)
= $136,500/school year

That’s just days with students? Yeah, we need to talk about her getting a raise. #ABleg #Alberta

OK. Time to fix some numbers. I see it's actually for kids under 12. So, roughtly grade 6?

435,155 K-6 students
x $30/day support
= $13,084,650/day
x 19 school days in October after strike day
= $248,608,350

It's still very close to a quarter of a billion dollars. #ABleg

Some quick math for my #ABleg followers:

825,000 K-12 students (according to gov’t website)
X $30/day support (as is being rumoured)
= $24,750,000/day
X 19 school days in October (from Oct. 6 if strike goes all month)
= $470,250,000

But we can’t afford to monitor class sizes. #Alberta

There was a much easier way to respond to the question. Let the student speak, then “Thank you for being involved as a young person. We need more of that. While your question isn’t related to what we’re discussing, it’s provincial jurisdiction. Premier, would you please respond?” #ABleg #Alberta

This isn’t a random media member or emcee. This is the executive director of the premier’s office, who has shown open disdain for dissenting voices for the whole tour. This would be unbecoming of anyone in the media/emcee world. It should also be for the premier’s office. #ABleg

A further point involves teaching assistants. 1,500 by 2028 sounds great. But when you have 2,200(ish) schools, it’s less than one per school. And I know of schools that need 3-4 more just to handle the number of complex learners entering the system. It’s all a drop in the bucket. #ABleg #Alberta

As an aside to that: yes, the province has its accelerated school build program. But is there an actual expectation that enough new schools will be opened over the next three years to ease the crunch? Or are jamming more students in existing facilities? #AbLeg #Alberta

As teachers start voting on the new/old deal, some math: #Alberta has averaged 25,000 new students/year recently. If you’re averaging 25 students/classroom (K-12), you need 1,000 teachers. So the deal only pays for growth and not to ease current strain, no? And where are we putting them? #ABleg

Why some Alberta teachers will vote against the latest contract offer | CBC News Many Alberta teachers say the latest contract offer from their employers and union isn’t good enough to stop them from striking.

I’ve tried to pack a lot in here:

TL;DR
- Many AB teachers intend to vote against a contract offer
- among them is a teacher who chaired the bargaining committee until last week
- ATA internal comms says if they strike, the scale will be unprecedented; public pressure will affect outcome #AbEd

Letter to the Editor: Teachers don’t want to strike, but might have to Teachers love being in the classroom and see their profession as a public service.

If you missed that long letter I sent to the premier, education minister, @naheednenshi.bsky.social & others, here’s my open letter regarding the looming teachers strike in #ABleg and what I see every single day as the husband of a phenomenal teacher. #Alberta www.airdriecityview.com/opinion/lett...

It won’t be 95% like when they voted to strike. But I wouldn’t be shocked if it was 75% rejection. I am curious about how things play out if it’s 50-50 or even 60-40. Having it split helps the government I think.

Judging by what I’ve seen in the online world, many teachers aren’t impressed with it being essentially the same deal as May. That said, I think some teachers are also getting cold feet, thinking they can’t trust that they’ll get a worse deal down the road. My gut tells me they reject it.

It’s absolutely crazy to me that this hasn’t been put on the table from #ABleg. Had they said “listen, we can’t afford a massive raise right now but we can give you class size tracking & measures to address it,” I bet the province would get more sympathy. My guess: teachers reject this “new” offer.

Interim report on Alberta health contract scandal not finished, won’t be made public Alberta’s government says it has yet to receive an interim report on the investigation into allegations of corruption over health contracts but it should be finished in the coming days.

“Won’t be made public.” Let that sink in. A report into the allocation of millions of OUR dollars is going to be kept from Albertans. How does this hold anyone accountable/responsible for what has allegedly transpired? Bring on the public inquiry. #ABleg www.ctvnews.ca/edmonton/art...

As we get ready to see #ABleg attack ads in the ongoing dispute with teachers, a few important things to keep in mind. The biggest one to me: 3,000 teachers sounds great but how many are actually needed over three years just to fund growth vs. addressing current challenges? #Alberta

I wrote this a few days ago and finally sent it this morning to the premier, education minister, opposition leader and education critic. It's long. But it needs to be long. And it needs to be said. This isn't just about salaries. @albertateachers.bsky.social #ABleg #Alberta #ABed

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Random #ABleg thought: coverage of the book ban debacle sure did a nice job of covering up the threat of a teacher’s strike, the healthcare mismanagement, the worse-than-expected budget deficit and the fact #Alberta now has the highest unemployment rate in the country.

Yikes. My wife’s grade one class had 25 kids this year and, if the notes from their kindergarten teachers are true, quite a few of them may require additional learning supports. Not ideal when government’s own documents say ideal class size is 18 at that age.

Hey #ABleg world: not sure if you saw this but the battle between government and teachers could come to a head as early as tomorrow. Talks have broken off between the two sides. News conferences tomorrow. Buckle up. #Alberta #ABed

www.alberta.ca/release.cfm?...

I’ve often said that many teachers I know would take another four years of zero salary increases if it meant more supports and class size monitoring. And now, it’s not just the in-class stuff but I’ve heard rumblings that some teachers are now doing basic cleaning because no one did it this summer.

I fear far too many people were willingly blind to her past as Wildrose leader and then on radio. She’s always been out in plain sight, always failing to take responsibility for anything she says or does.

What a lot of people fail to understand as well is the increased complexities entering the classrooms, especially at younger ages. It spans such a wide spectrum and often is like adding another student. Now that class of 25 feels like a class of 30 or 35. It’s not sustainable.

Instead, classrooms are getting fuller and fuller. My wife’s grade one class in #Airdrie is going to be 24-25 students this year. Optimal class size at that age is 18-19. Add in students with complex learning needs (IPPs, ESL, etc) and it’s gonna feel like 30 pretty quick. #ABleg #Alberta

Keith Gerein: Forget Texas, Alberta has its own gerrymandering effort underway against urban centres Two UCP cabinet ministers want to create hybrid, rural-urban provincial ridings in Alberta in that may favour the party's political interests.

This should be a bigger story than it seems to be right now. I know every day seems to be a new headline grabbing attention, but if this were any other government in #Alberta or #Canada, we’d be seeing protests over this kind of gerrymandering. #ABleg edmontonjournal.com/opinion/colu...

I almost spit out my soda when an old high school buddy claimed that “this is the most fiscally conservative government” he’s seen since Klein. I had to point out that she has the largest cabinet of any in the past 20 years & they’re still budgeting on $75 oil. That’s not fiscally conservative.

Danielle Smith, the pundit turned premier, wants to self-immunize from her opinionated past | CBC News Stop scrutinizing her past? Danielle Smith said herself: “I know I’m not a talk show host or media commentator any longer.”

It’s actually quite amazing how we’re less than three years removed from an address to the province where she claimed she would listen, admit to her mistakes, learn from them and move on. Personal responsibility is something foreign to #ABleg right now. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Alberta premier says journey to fix health system within 90 days to be 'bumpy' Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is promising rocky times ahead as she reorganizes the entire governance structure of provincial health services before the end of January.

I was gonna make a joke that maybe she meant 900 days. But I just did the math and we are at 1,040 days and counting. #ABleg #Alberta www.ctvnews.ca/edmonton/art...

YouTube video by Western Canadian Baseball League WCBL Report - 2025 Season Ending Review, Red Sox Championship Recap - Aug 19, 2025

🎙️ Hard to believe the @wcblbaseball.bsky.social season has come to an end. Big thanks to Clark and the IKS crew for putting together an outstanding show every single week. Appreciate the league for letting me be a small part of the production! #WCBL ⚾️🇨🇦 www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDz0...