Juno News - Petition targets funding for independent schools

00:00:00.000 elections alberta has approved and issued a citizens initiative petition asking albertans

00:00:16.080 whether to end public funding for accredited independent schools the province's teacher

00:00:20.880 strike continues as october 27th approaches with the provincial government suggesting that back to

00:00:25.840 work legislation could be forthcoming by that date albertans are voting on a new provincial license

00:00:30.960 plate featuring the strong and free motto with a tournament style selection process advanced voter

00:00:36.560 turnout fell in edmonton and calgary for the upcoming municipal election compared to the last

00:00:41.120 and the two leading candidates have recently endorsed woke policies throughout their campaign

00:00:45.760 processes my name is isaac lamrew your host of the alberta roundup and let's hop into that first story

00:00:51.040 right away so elections alberta has approved a citizen initiative petition that would ask albertans

00:00:56.640 whether to end public funding for accredited independent schools last tuesday the approved

00:01:01.680 question reads quote should the government of alberta end its current practice of allocating

00:01:06.640 public funds to accredited independent private schools the petition was issued this tuesday and

00:01:12.240 organizers now have until february 11th 2026 which is 120 days to collect 177 731 signatures which is 10

00:01:22.400 of votes cast in the last provincial election education minister dimitrios nicolaides told true

00:01:27.440 north that the government respects the process but remains committed to protecting school choice he said

00:01:33.360 quote the citizen initiative act is the purest form of democracy we have and added that alberta's system

00:01:39.360 allows parents to select the type of education that best meets their child's needs and learning

00:01:44.080 style and will help them reach their full potential he warned that withdrawing funding from independent

00:01:48.800 schools would seriously jeopardize choice adding policy should not pit one set of students as more

00:01:53.920 deserving than others the province's system which has been in place in some form since the 1970s

00:01:59.440 allows up to 70 percent of per student operational funding to follow children to independent schools

00:02:04.960 similar models exist in british columbia saskatchewan manitoba and quebec page mcpherson the associate

00:02:10.640 director of education policy at the fraser institute told true north that alberta's approach gives

00:02:15.360 middle-income families access to options previously available only to the wealthy she said quote wealthy

00:02:21.760 families will always have school choice policies like this enable families from a wider cross-section

00:02:26.960 of the income spectrum to access independent schools and she called the timing a cruel irony given

00:02:32.400 that classroom complexity and overcrowding have been central to the ongoing teacher strike she said

00:02:37.360 quote doing anything at this time to reduce diversity in the education system in alberta is

00:02:42.000 a cruel irony for those children who are only able to access independent schools because of the system

00:02:47.040 of school choice alberta currently has when the issue is that you have a complex classrooms a wide swath

00:02:52.800 of needs in a classroom then the solution cannot be mandating that more students attend one-size-fits-all

00:02:58.640 government public schools in fact she added that school choice actually lets parents escape these

00:03:04.400 chaotic labor strikes john jaggers ma the executive director of the association of independent schools

00:03:10.880 and colleges in alberta told true north that the proposal would devastate his sector he said quote

00:03:16.320 i don't think i'm being dramatic if i say it'd be catastrophic he explained that roughly 80 percent of

00:03:22.160 his schools encompassing about 55 000 students show the average income of independent schools students

00:03:27.840 his families is at or below the provincial average jaggers ma added that his fastest growing schools

00:03:34.000 generally serve new canadian families and students with special learning needs he said forcing children

00:03:40.320 who have not found success in public schools for one reason or another would be counterproductive as

00:03:45.200 well which would cost taxpayers around 300 million dollars per year the difference in the government's last

00:03:51.680 two settlement offers to the teachers is less than that amount he said quote i don't want to say

00:03:57.520 we're a rounding error because that's dramatic but we are not the problem taking the funding away

00:04:03.040 from us would solve nothing it would be punitive unproductive you might look at this question and

00:04:08.160 think oh that's great we get some more funding for our schools i'm in favor of that question without

00:04:12.400 actually knowing that that's not accurate and it's hugely harmful he explained that his schools have

00:04:16.800 grown faster than the public system in recent years and refuted arguments that independent schools have

00:04:22.160 received more funding he explained that private schools get 70 percent of the funding allocated to public

00:04:27.280 school students so any discrepancy is linked to independent school growth outweighing public school

00:04:32.400 growth he said quote the two biggest misconceptions one would be those schools are for profit and the

00:04:39.040 other one would be those are for the rich both of those aren't accurate as for the petition jaggers

00:04:44.400 ma told me that it takes a month to apply for and he added that its proponent alicia taylor is a calgary

00:04:49.920 district representative on the alberta teachers association's governing council he said quote i can't help

00:04:57.040 but feel like this is a bit more of an orchestrated attack on independent schools than it is a gut

00:05:01.840 reaction to frustration as for the teacher strike we'll cover that in our next story the alberta

00:05:06.800 government is threatening back to work legislation if the teacher strike continues into the beginning of

00:05:11.760 the upcoming legislative session which is set to begin on october 27th finance minister nate horner

00:05:17.360 told cbc that the legislation could be forthcoming alberta's teacher strike has closed more than 2500

00:05:23.280 schools and affected almost three quarters of a million students since october 6th alberta teachers

00:05:28.640 association president jason shilling issued very few clear demands that day sticking to buzzwords and

00:05:34.000 broad themes like chronic underfunding complex classrooms and fair pay his remarks followed

00:05:38.960 teachers overwhelmingly rejecting two provincial government settlements one was recommended by a

00:05:44.400 mediator and another was negotiated and agreed upon by the teachers employer bargaining association

00:05:49.760 and the alberta teachers association despite collecting millions in union dues shilling confirmed

00:05:54.720 teachers would not receive strike pay a fact they were aware of when they voted he added that the

00:06:00.080 ata would pay health benefits throughout the strike chris sims the alberta director for the canadian

00:06:04.720 taxpayers federation highlighted the rejected deals she showed that teachers refused a package that

00:06:09.840 would have made them the highest paid in western canada with new teachers starting at 71 000 annually and

00:06:15.120 reaching a hundred thousand dollars yearly after seven years of experience the offer also included

00:06:19.600 hiring 3 000 more teachers and 1500 educational assistants and building a hundred more schools while

00:06:26.080 shilling said 51 000 teachers on strike alberta premier danielle smith commented on the strike with

00:06:31.280 different numbers at an unrelated wednesday press conference she claimed 35 162 teachers walked off

00:06:38.000 the job not including 7 000 substitutes as for students her number was 740 000 so she did the math

00:06:43.840 herself suggesting that these numbers would mean 21 students were in each class if it were equal

00:06:48.880 across the board but if there were 51 000 teachers as shilling suggested that would equate to about 15

00:06:54.640 students per class nowhere near the 40 that we've been hearing about and smith's comments came in

00:06:59.040 response to a question about class size caps key demand from teachers but smith expressed uncertainty

00:07:03.760 about how such caps would be enforced she said quote we should already be able to have class sizes of 21

00:07:09.040 so we have to kind of look into why don't we what is actually going on there is there some

00:07:12.880 problem in administration in being able to allocate the teachers appropriately are there a lot of

00:07:17.120 people working part-time shouldn't be the case because i think you'd be a substitute if you were

00:07:21.760 working part-time and she also reminded albertans that the ndp previously spent two billion dollars

00:07:26.720 during their tenure to attempt to reduce class sizes but failed to do so smith suggested that classroom

00:07:32.080 complexity driven by english second language learners autistic disabled and students with behavioral

00:07:37.840 issues could be a greater concern she proposed that educational assistance might need to be deployed

00:07:42.800 more strategically to address this the province continues to offer temporary relief for families

00:07:47.760 affected by the strike through the parent payment program parents of children aged 12 and under can

00:07:52.080 receive 30 per day for child care and tutoring costs additional support is available for families

00:07:57.440 of children with complex needs totaling up to 300 per five-day school week according to the alberta

00:08:02.880 government the program is being funded with redirected teacher salaried dollars for the duration of the

00:08:07.760 strike and the first payments are set to be dispersed by an e-transfer on october 31st but for our next

00:08:14.080 story we can actually uh cool down hopefully with something a bit more uh fun and exciting which is that

00:08:19.280 all albertans can and are encouraged to participate in because for the first time in four decades albertans

00:08:24.080 will be choosing a new license plate with tournament style voting underway online to select one of eight

00:08:29.200 designs all featuring the province's strong and free motto the province announced the initiative on

00:08:33.920 wednesday the strong and free campaign invites residents to select from eight designs celebrating

00:08:38.640 alberta's landscapes industries and provincial identity the winning design will be announced

00:08:43.360 during the fall legislative session with the new plates available in late 2026. the tournament style

00:08:48.640 online voting will take place between october 15th and november 5th in the first phase albertans can

00:08:53.760 vote between the eight initial designs the subsequent phase will feature a top four then a top two until

00:08:59.120 the last license plate standing is crowned alberta premier danielle smith said quote a license plate

00:09:04.320 is more than just tin and paint it's a business card for alberta it states who we are what we stand

00:09:09.280 for and the pride we take in being albertans she explained that the current plate was introduced in

00:09:14.160 1984 and the province has grown and changed remarkably since then she said quote our province is bold

00:09:20.960 innovative and deeply proud of its roots it's time for the license plate to reflect that vibrant

00:09:26.000 spirit and our beautiful landscape while the license plates vary in design from cattle being herded to

00:09:31.280 oil rigs to beautiful mountain landscapes to very basic designs strong and free is at the bottom of

00:09:36.640 each version strong and free can also be found on alberta's coat of arms which in latin reads fortis

00:09:42.400 a liber strong and free also appears in canada's national anthem but despite this the president of

00:09:47.360 the alberta federation of labor called the change a very trumpian thing to do and a big red flag

00:09:53.280 service alberta minister dale nally also referenced the common association with canada he said that

00:09:58.400 when the king of england delivered his throne speech in ottawa he also said strong and free in relation

00:10:03.600 to the country nally said quote there is no political ideology that owns the corner on strong

00:10:08.240 and free smith said in fact that it was odd that strong and free wasn't already on the license plate

00:10:13.280 considering it is the provincial motto nally said he hoped the voting experience was fun and interactive

00:10:18.400 he added that implementation costs would only be between 25 000 and 50 000 dollars and that only

00:10:24.320 internal resources were being used and no extra budget was allocated to his department all proposed

00:10:29.120 designs include alberta's provincial flower the wild rose after feedback indicated that residents

00:10:34.320 wanted to keep it albertans who wish to replace their current plates onto the new design

00:10:38.800 can pay a voluntary 28 fee or wait for renewal at no additional cost current plates will remain valid

00:10:44.720 as long as they are in good condition and the province also said that the updated designs will

00:10:48.560 include reflective technology to improve visibility and meet international standards for counterfeit

00:10:53.920 resistance you can vote for the plates right now at alberta.ca alberta-pic-a-plate all the plates

00:11:01.600 are super nice and i myself am struggling how to decide how to cast my vote but speaking of casting

00:11:06.000 votes for our next stories we'll cover the upcoming municipal elections so advanced voter turnout fell

00:11:11.840 in both edmonton and calgary compared to 2021's municipal elections but daily participation rates

00:11:16.720 in edmonton were higher due to the shorter five-day window in edmonton 41 340 residents voted in advance

00:11:24.080 which was down from 63 834 in 2021 but this year averaged 8268 voters per day versus only 6383 in 2021

00:11:34.400 which had twice the amount of days so turnout steadily rose peaking at 10 698 in the final day

00:11:42.400 edmonton's municipal election last time saw a overall turnout of 37.6 with just over 230 000 of the

00:11:49.600 city's 629 000 eligible voters casting ballots and based on the 2021 eligible voter numbers because

00:11:56.240 the most recent ones aren't yet available about 6.5 percent of edmontonians casted advanced ballots

00:12:01.680 this year however if the voter base grew similarly to how calgary's did because they actually did give

00:12:07.120 their most recent numbers advanced turnout would be closer to about six percent and speaking of calgary

00:12:12.560 advanced turnout also declined there because the city clerk's office reported 96 549 voters between

00:12:19.520 october 6th and 11th representing about 10.7 percent of eligible voters this is down from 141 329 in 2021

00:12:28.560 which was about 16.7 percent of eligible voters and the highest daily total in calgary was october 11th

00:12:36.000 where 22 144 voted roughly twice edmonton's final day count but the lower advanced numbers come as

00:12:43.680 mayoral front runners in both cities make their final push before election day on october 20th and

00:12:48.640 recent polling has shown that jeremy farkas leads in calgary with 27 percent support followed by incumbent

00:12:54.160 joe t gondek and councillor sonja sharp each at 23 percent true north of course previously highlighted

00:12:59.280 farx's advocacy for hate tracking programs his opposition to alberta's efforts to enforce a ban

00:13:04.400 on child gender transitions and other progressive policies edmonton polling has showed a wider gap with

00:13:10.000 andrew knack seeing 41 support followed by fellow councillor tim kartmel at 21 and similar to farkas

00:13:17.120 knack has recently supported various progressive policies including drug consumption sites 15-minute cities and

00:13:23.520 more so for our next section we'll just focus a bit more on these woke policies that both the

00:13:29.200 leaders knack and farkas have pursued starting off with edmonton's front runner andrew knack he faced

00:13:33.840 questions in a recent yeg wave online q a where he presented progressive positions on illegal drugs and

00:13:39.680 city density he defended city density 15-minute city design and drug consumption sites as a reminder as

00:13:46.560 i said knack holds a lead with 41 support one of the questions focused on the city's new zoning bylaw

00:13:53.760 which allows eight units per lot knack said he would reduce mid-block infield to six units and

00:13:59.680 focus higher density along main streets and transit hubs calling it thoughtful density nearly every

00:14:05.440 single candidate said they would scrap edmonton's single-use plastics bylaw calling it costly and

00:14:10.160 ineffective for example omar muhammad tim kartmel and raheem jaffer each vowed to repeal it outright

00:14:15.840 while michael walters said he would cancel the bag fee but keep broader waste reduction efforts knack was the

00:14:21.200 lone candidate to defend the bylaw in principle reminding edmontonians that he supported it in

00:14:26.240 2023 but said that it should be reviewed for results rather than repealed the q a of course

00:14:31.600 featured 28 questions in total and can be found on yeg waves x account and i think their instagram

00:14:36.000 account too candidates were deeply divided over edmonton's 15-minute city plan knack and walters

00:14:42.560 supported the concept as a way to create compact walkable neighborhoods and improve affordability

00:14:47.040 while muhammad dismissed it as failing in reality and dividing communities cartmel opposed 15-minute

00:14:51.680 cities while jaffer argued that such neighborhoods develop organically without needed government

00:14:56.720 intervention when asked about drug use and violence specifically what programs or interventions

00:15:01.920 the candidates would implement to prevent harm cartmel took a shot at knack he said quote

00:15:07.760 this isn't the city's job i'll be a strong advocate here for provincial support but we cannot

00:15:12.400 put more taxpayer money towards this edmontonians are stretched too thin a knack government will

00:15:18.480 increase your taxes for this issue and knack called for increased funding to prevention programs bail

00:15:23.360 reform and family and community support services he also vocalized his support for drug injection and

00:15:28.320 supervised consumption sites walters was less explicit but he said he had written to the premier

00:15:33.360 asking the province to expand harm reduction programs the other candidates opposed the sites altogether

00:15:39.200 knack again stood alone when he was discussing his support for bike lanes he supported continued

00:15:44.240 expansion arguing they would reduce congestion and improve safety muhammad cartmel and jaffer all

00:15:49.600 called for pause or rollback citing cost and disruption to drivers and walters took a middle ground

00:15:54.480 saying lanes should exist only where they make sense but we'll switch over to calgary's front runner

00:15:58.800 now jeremy farkas recent polling of course has showed him leading with 27 support followed very closely

00:16:04.800 though by incumbent jyoti gondek and counselor sonya sharp each at 23 but farkas revealed many of his

00:16:11.040 woke beliefs in an ask me anything thread on reddit last month such as supporting hate tracking programs

00:16:16.480 opposing the province's ban on child gender transitions and more when asked about being a fiscal

00:16:21.280 conservatives and his support for vulnerable populations farkas said his platform included a hate

00:16:26.160 tracking program he pointed to how his platform includes hate tracking and education programs culturally

00:16:31.920 competent training for first responders and the housing equity roadmap to ensure our hosing system

00:16:37.200 works for racialized newcomer indigenous disabled and 2sglbtqi residents

00:16:45.840 farkas also said that mayor jyoti gondek deserves real credit for reconciliation he pledged to keep the

00:16:51.760 momentum going through partnerships in housing and land use on other issues like the provincial

00:16:57.200 government's use of the notwithstanding clause to enforce its bans on medical gender transitions

00:17:01.440 for youth and requiring schools to inform parents when their child uses a different pronoun at school

00:17:06.480 farkas expressed disagreement he said quote i do not support that use of the notwithstanding clause

00:17:12.480 farkas also celebrated putting forward a pro-immigration message for calgary like gondek he also

00:17:18.080 celebrated former mayor naheed nenshi for his mental health and addiction strategy he said quote i've

00:17:23.760 backed efforts like culturally competent safety training and restoring liaison officers so bipoc and newcomer

00:17:29.760 communities feel represented and protected and in terms of bike lanes farkas was critical of the

00:17:34.400 provincial government's stance against them he also supported lowering speed limits farkas also discussed

00:17:40.080 his stance on pandemic lockdowns advocating for masking and saying he required his team to do so

00:17:46.560 and these examples i provided are not all-inclusive as time is a factor in the show but you can certainly

00:17:52.160 read all about it on junonews.com and i guess we'll know next week whether the cities decide to elect

00:17:57.920 woke mayors and counselors but for this week that wraps up this week's alberta roundup

00:18:02.080 my name is isaac lamrew have a great weekend thank you and god bless

Juno News - October 19, 2025

Petition targets funding for independent schools

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