Alberta teachers have rejected the UCP’s latest contract offer with an overwhelming 89.5 percent voting against the deal. The strike is now scheduled to begin October 6.

Amanda Chapman, Alberta’s NDP Shadow Minister of Education, said the UCP has pushed Alberta’s education system to the breaking point. “This government continues to insult teachers with offers that don’t meet their needs or improve classroom conditions. Alberta’s New Democrats stand with the teachers, the parents, and the students who will ultimately suffer from this government’s actions.”

For years, Alberta has had the lowest-funded classrooms in the country. The UCP’s refusal to bargain in good faith leaves parents scrambling and students’ learning on hold.

They cut his mic, we let him speak.

At a taxpayer-funded Alberta Next panel in Calgary, a high school student named Evan Li was cut off when he tried to ask about the strike. Moderator Bruce McAllister, Danielle Smith’s Executive Director, told him, “Your parents should turn you over your knee.”

After public backlash, Evan was finally given the chance to finish his question when Naheed Nenshi handed him the microphone, uninterrupted.

In this video, Evan shares what he wanted to ask and his experience of being silenced.

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