Alberta Politics & Government Thread 3.0

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by puffnstuff

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmon...rmed-1.7504274

Premier says hospitals, chartered surgical facilities can compete for patients.

She added that if hospitals have idle operating room time, they will need to "be creative" and become more efficient. Otherwise they'll lose funding or their operating room space could be lent out to private surgical companies.

So...private companies doing surgeries for profit in public buildings.

I wouldn't count on that for too much longer, either.

[Whynotnow]

Originally Posted by puffnstuff

Busboobs still wants her own cops

https://edmontonjournal.com/news/pol...s-could-opt-in

Bill 49 — the Public Safety Statutes Amendment Act 2025, makes amendments to the Police Act which would specify that the new “independent agency police service” would be a Crown corporation and would operate at “arm’s length” of the government. Under the legislation, municipalities will be able to choose whether or not they want to select the new police agency as their local police service once it becomes operational.

In the ctv article about this they also with a straight face said that independent agency would be then free from political influence. I mean the UCP has politically inserted themselves into every single department and agency they have.

[Point Blank]

So teachers are currently in mediation for the new collective bargaining agreement. Things don’t look great at the moment and it seems like there may be a strike looming.

Currently the mediator’s recommendation is a raise of approx 13.6% over 4 year for CBE teachers. For me that’s fine. Biggest issue is classroom size and complexity aren’t meaningfully being addressed, mediator recommended that teachers form a committee to make recommendations to the superintendent about classroom size and complexity, and if it’s not resolved it would be escalated to the provincial government. No further notes on what happens if our education minister says “too bad”.

[MrButtons]

Originally Posted by Point Blank

So teachers are currently in mediation for the new collective bargaining agreement. Things don’t look great at the moment and it seems like there may be a strike looming.

Currently the mediator’s recommendation is a raise of approx 13.6% over 4 year for CBE teachers. For me that’s fine. Biggest issue is classroom size and complexity aren’t meaningfully being addressed, mediator recommended that teachers form a committee to make recommendations to the superintendent about classroom size and complexity, and if it’s not resolved it would be escalated to the provincial government. No further notes on what happens if our education minister says “too bad”.

Does anyone have an idea of how the bolded can be addressed in the CBA? Truly curious on it cause i'm unfamiliar with all of this for the most part. I definitely agree that it's becoming an issue. Someone I know isn't a teacher but very involved - albeit, with CSSD - but has seen the lunchroom, library and Gym being used as a class space, so I get it. Just curious on how that can be tied into the CBA!

I have a feeling that what'll happen is the teachers are good with price increase but worry about capacity, and the government will ignore all that and push "see, teachers are greedy and won't accept this HUGE raise".

[Fuzz]

Isn't that what has been happening for decades? The actual issues never get addressed. Teachers get pay raise, government and Sliver criticize teachers? Loop.

[Point Blank]

In BC, they have implemented a class size cap at 25. Sask tried to get this but failed, and one of the first things the UCP did was ending classroom size reporting which should tell you how this round of negotiations will go. BC teachers are now also higher paid but probably still lower purchasing power due to cost of living.

I would love to do large scale and fun projects with my classes, but with classroom sizes of up to 40 students x 3 periods per day, marking becomes a major thing. I almost always spend half of my weekend marking.

[darockwilder]

Originally Posted by Point Blank

In BC, they have implemented a class size cap at 25. Sask tried to get this but failed, and one of the first things the UCP did was ending classroom size reporting which should tell you how this round of negotiations will go. BC teachers are now also higher paid but probably still lower purchasing power due to cost of living.

I would love to do large scale and fun projects with my classes, but with classroom sizes of up to 40 students x 3 periods per day, marking becomes a major thing. I almost always spend half of my weekend marking.

That's amazing. Not in a good way. I actually can't believe that I hadn't known that before, seems on brand though.

[indes]

Originally Posted by Point Blank

In BC, they have implemented a class size cap at 25. Sask tried to get this but failed, and one of the first things the UCP did was ending classroom size reporting which should tell you how this round of negotiations will go. BC teachers are now also higher paid but probably still lower purchasing power due to cost of living.

I would love to do large scale and fun projects with my classes, but with classroom sizes of up to 40 students x 3 periods per day, marking becomes a major thing. I almost always spend half of my weekend marking.

It's remarkable how ignorant they choose to be. Who needs to ignore experts, just take away all their data and they'll have nothing to say!

[puffnstuff]

Cant fix a problem? Dont want to fix it? Done something wrong or possibly illegal?

Just hide it! Its the ucp way.

Blaming someone else that isnt at fault is also one of their ways.

[The Fisher Account]

Originally Posted by Point Blank

Currently the mediator’s recommendation is a raise of approx 13.6% over 4 year for CBE teachers. For me that’s fine. .

This is NOT fine.

Teachers have seen their spending power greatly eroded over the last decade. This offer is a joke. Read this:

https://medium.com/@abteacher/a-pay-...e-750dc9c9641f

High percentage chance that teachers reject this deal and ready for a disruption to the start of school in September.

The 12% raise would be fine in year ONE. 3% YoY isn't even keeping pace with inflation.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by The Fisher Account

This is NOT fine.

Teachers have seen their spending power greatly eroded over the last decade. This offer is a joke. Read this:

https://medium.com/@abteacher/a-pay-...e-750dc9c9641f

High percentage chance that teachers reject this deal and ready for a disruption to the start of school in September.

The 12% raise would be fine in year ONE. 3% YoY isn't even keeping pace with inflation.

Wait I thought the erosion of their spending power was off set by their ability to work building decks and fences for 2 months in the summer.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by The Fisher Account

This is NOT fine.

Teachers have seen their spending power greatly eroded over the last decade. This offer is a joke. Read this:

https://medium.com/@abteacher/a-pay-...e-750dc9c9641f

High percentage chance that teachers reject this deal and ready for a disruption to the start of school in September.

The 12% raise would be fine in year ONE. 3% YoY isn't even keeping pace with inflation.

Why is 2011 picked as the year of comparison in that chart?

In 1997 a 12 year teacher made $1850 (net pay) roughly the same amount made in 1986. If you inflate that to today is only $3697. Teachers are far better off than they were in 1997. If you use 1986 you get 5786 net today. Which is probably close say at a 30% marginal tax rate but someone would have to do detailed calcs to include the pension deductions and things like that to do the comparison.

So teachers today are better off than 1997 and perhaps slightly worse off than 1986.

https://legacy.teachers.ab.ca/News%2...d%20today.aspx

[5abi]

Originally Posted by Point Blank

So teachers are currently in mediation for the new collective bargaining agreement. Things don’t look great at the moment and it seems like there may be a strike looming.

Currently the mediator’s recommendation is a raise of approx 13.6% over 4 year for CBE teachers. For me that’s fine. Biggest issue is classroom size and complexity aren’t meaningfully being addressed, mediator recommended that teachers form a committee to make recommendations to the superintendent about classroom size and complexity, and if it’s not resolved it would be escalated to the provincial government. No further notes on what happens if our education minister says “too bad”.

No way should that raise be fine, plus it's an effective 12.5%, nurses just agreed to 20% plus. They got more then that in the first year.

If Alberta wants to be number one they got to compete with number one and that's Manitoba which will max out at 125K.

[Muta]

I wish I got a matching 3% annual inflation raise in the private sector, let alone an actual, annual performance-related raise.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by Muta

I wish I got a matching 3% annual inflation raise in the private sector, let alone an actual, annual performance-related raise.

maybe grab your boot straps..........

[Point Blank]

Originally Posted by The Fisher Account

This is NOT fine.

Teachers have seen their spending power greatly eroded over the last decade. This offer is a joke. Read this:

https://medium.com/@abteacher/a-pay-...e-750dc9c9641f

High percentage chance that teachers reject this deal and ready for a disruption to the start of school in September.

The 12% raise would be fine in year ONE. 3% YoY isn't even keeping pace with inflation.

Yes that’s absolutely fair and I’m aware that our purchasing power has dramatically dropped over the last 10 years, but there are three factors that I think about:
1. Teachers have not had a raise in a very long time so it’s already more than what we have been getting, even during the NDP era. It’s not a good justification but it also gives us the appearance of being greedy.
2. Sask got about a 9% raise over 3 or 4 years or something to that effect so it’s more than what they got.
3. Salary and purchasing power is a focal point but the public does not care about this nearly as much as class sizes. How much I take home isn’t a visible issue compared with class size or complexity, so anything that needs public support should start with the most visible issue.

I understand none of the points I pointed out justifies a salary increase that has not kept up nearly to the level of inflation. This is part of the reason I’ll probably vote to strike, but I’m also not holding my breath that we’ll get anything better.

[The Big Chill]

Originally Posted by GGG

Why is 2011 picked as the year of comparison in that chart?

I believe wages have been flat since 2011 but there was growth in the prior years.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

maybe grab your boot straps..........

Every time I reach down to grab them I end up getting ####ed.

[belsarius]

Originally Posted by GGG

Why is 2011 picked as the year of comparison in that chart?

In 1997 a 12 year teacher made $1850 (net pay) roughly the same amount made in 1986. If you inflate that to today is only $3697. Teachers are far better off than they were in 1997. If you use 1986 you get 5786 net today. Which is probably close say at a 30% marginal tax rate but someone would have to do detailed calcs to include the pension deductions and things like that to do the comparison.

So teachers today are better off than 1997 and perhaps slightly worse off than 1986.

https://legacy.teachers.ab.ca/News%2...d%20today.aspx

They talk about that methodology ..

The commenter argued that using 2011–12 as the starting point was cherry-picking because it ignores earlier gains (approximately 27% from 2005–06 to 2011–12) and an overall nominal increase since 2005–06 of ~35%.

Choosing a baseline is essential for comparative analysis. The period from 2011 onward was selected because it represents over a decade of direct experience for the majority of the current teaching workforce and isolates a distinct, prolonged period of unprecedented wage stagnation relative to inflation — spanning multiple economic cycles. It provides a clear and relevant lens on the current bargaining context.

However, analyzing the longer timeframe back to 2005–06 reinforces the conclusion. With cumulative Alberta CPI inflation running at ~50–55% from 2005 to 2023, the cited ~35% nominal gain over that period confirms a significant real purchasing power decline of 15–20%, even when accounting for earlier raises.

I think the other thing to consider is that there were a variety of reasons a wage will rise, especially over a long enough time period. The average salary in 1997 for all workers has outpaced inflation in Alberta for the past 25 years. The boom in the early 2000s forced wages a lot higher for all people, regardless of their industry. You could argue that using a 1997 base ignores the market implications. Consider the minimum wage was only $5 in 1997, accounting for inflation alone means it should only be $9.46.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Every time I reach down to grab them I end up getting ####ed.