Alberta Politics & Government Thread 3.0

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Can we separate her from Canada? Preferably strapped to a rocket or something?

Alright, which one of you made it happen?

Spoiler!

About 9:30 AM Sunday, looking east from Connaught...

[Wormius]

We know why they won’t physically move to the US. As crappy as the US is, even they’re not going to take these guys move there.

[PepsiFree]

I don’t think Smith needs to worry about whether Prime Minister or President is more fitting. The choice will likely be obscurity, prison, or death, depending on how the US wants to proceed once Alberta is easy pickings. And that’s assuming there is no resistance locally, in which case there’s probably more limited outcomes.

No military, no currency, no trade agreements, no port access, but a bunch of natural resources. Can’t wait to see what happens!

[Fuzz]

They can't move, because they've nurtured such a hatred for immigrants that the paradox in their brain of being an immigrant would cause their prefrontal cortex to explode the second they crossed the border.


Of course, they could just call themselves Expats, and the paradox would not be revealed.

[Jimmy Stang]

Originally Posted by puffnstuff

I will start driving them down to the border if they need a ride.

A freedom convoy. Literally.

Fitting, considering the red and white ditch dwellers have now packed up their Canadian flags and swapped them for separatist ones. It’s almost like they’re puppets for the grievance de jour.

[Doctorfever]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Can we separate her from Canada? Preferably strapped to a rocket or something?

Why the soft touch this morning?

What happened to the “she should be killed” mentality? Come on, you can do better.

[Scroopy Noopers]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

I don’t think Smith needs to worry about whether Prime Minister or President is more fitting. The choice will likely be obscurity, prison, or death, depending on how the US wants to proceed once Alberta is easy pickings. And that’s assuming there is no resistance locally, in which case there’s probably more limited outcomes.

No military, no currency, no trade agreements, no port access, but a bunch of natural resources. Can’t wait to see what happens!

Venezuela 2: this time, no coast!

[Hockeyguy15]

Originally Posted by Doctorfever

Why the soft touch this morning?

What happened to the “she should be killed” mentality? Come on, you can do better.

Seek professional help.

[Doctorfever]

Now not wanting violence and killing requires professional help.

Wow.

[Hockeyguy15]

Originally Posted by Doctorfever

Now not wanting violence and killing requires professional help.

Wow.

Yep, you nailed it. Excellent work

[Cappy]

Originally Posted by Doctorfever

Now not wanting violence and killing requires professional help.

Wow.

Maybe if she just stays in her lane and doesn't interfere with sovereignty, she won't have to worry about violence...

[Slava]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

I don’t think Smith needs to worry about whether Prime Minister or President is more fitting. The choice will likely be obscurity, prison, or death, depending on how the US wants to proceed once Alberta is easy pickings. And that’s assuming there is no resistance locally, in which case there’s probably more limited outcomes.

No military, no currency, no trade agreements, no port access, but a bunch of natural resources. Can’t wait to see what happens!

Originally Posted by Scroopy Noopers

Venezuela 2: this time, no coast!

You guys aren’t excited to become the Belarus of North America?

[troutman]

Originally Posted by Slava

You guys aren’t excited to become the Belarus of North America?

Will that include honey wrestling?

[troutman]

3 in 10 Albertans would vote for independence — but only half committed to separating

https://globalnews.ca/news/11635705/...sm-ipsos-poll/

So, 15%.

the Ipsos research that “stress-tested” those sentiments by introducing real-world consequences revealed that actual committed support for separation is roughly half the levels in both provinces.

Only 15 to 16 per cent of Albertans and Quebecers maintained their support after considering possible downsides such as standard of living declines, pension losses or trade renegotiations.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by troutman

Will that include honey wrestling?

No word on that, and no word on whether you could be at the finish line for one girls erotic journey from Milan to Minsk either!

[Wolven]

Originally Posted by Doctorfever

Now not wanting violence and killing requires professional help.

Wow.

That's not what you said. In fact, if we were to take your words at face value you actually are suggesting ramping up violent rhetoric when you say "you can do better".

Considering the lies, grifts, and total lack of accountability combined with massive spending that accomplishes nothing, what is it that a conservative like you even likes about the UCP? Is it just that you are slow on the uptake to understand they are nothing like the PCs of the past or are you the kind of person who enjoys having your money stolen by the people lying to your face?

Just curious.

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by Point Blank

Sorry if I’m derailing the current topic, but I’m currently working on some data analysis for the system and thought I’d share some insights.

For those of you who don’t know, PAT’s are provincial achievement tests students in grade 6 and 9 write across the province. The data is typically used to inform schools and school boards on areas of growth.

The PAT results are not communicated in raw percentages, but are instead usually communicated in the percentage of students receiving “Acceptable” and “Excellent” standards.

To determine what score constitutes as Acceptable or Excellent, the province uses “cut scores”, which are adjusted annually to account for test difficulty and maintain consistency and track trends over time.

In the years before the UCP implemented a new curriculum, the cut scores for “acceptable standard” typically hovers around 50%. In 2021-22, the percentage of students achieving acceptable standard was 64.1%, in 2022-23, the percentage was 65.4%. Again, these were with cut scores of about 50%.

How are our students doing with the new curriculum?

In 2024-25, the percentage of students achieving acceptable standard was 53.1%. This is a 12 percentage point drop, or an 18.8% decline.

But that’s not even the worst news. The cut score that was used to determine the acceptable standard was 37%

So not only did the number of students who achieved acceptable standard drop significantly from 65.4% to 53.1%, but what was considered a pass also dropped from around 50% to 37%.

In other words, we went from about 35% of the province achieving below 50% on the Grade 6 Math PAT in 2021-22 to about 47% of students achieving below 37% in 2024-25. That’s how bad the math results are currently looking.

What about ELA results? In 2021-22, 76.1% of students achieved acceptable standard in ELA 6. In 2024-25, 69.1% of students achieved acceptable standard. I don't have cut scores for either of these. This shows a 9.1% decrease, less than half of what we see in Math (18.8%).

For the most part, PAT results were holding steady post-COVID and the massive drop off occurred just this last school year. 2024-25 was also the first time students wrote PAT’s after the new curriculum was rammed through with minimal piloting completed.

This to me suggests several things, I’m sure many UCP supporters would like to either blame COVID disruptions or the large influx of immigrants in the last 5 year for these results. But while these likely have an impact, it’s more likely due to the implementation of the new curriculum because:
1. The decline was not steady- it was a massive drop off in 2024-25.
2. The decrease in math was over twice compared with ELA- one would have expected ELA to decline more with more newcomers who don’t speak English.
3. Grade 9 PAT’s did not experience anything near this level of drop off, and Grade 12 diploma results actually increased year over year. And there’s no new curriculum yet for Grades 9 and 12.

What about natural implementation dip? A natural implementation dip is expected, but again, not this significantly nor should we have seen such a massive discrepancy between ELA and math.

I have a hard time understanding why the UCP chose to impose this new curriculum all at once instead of a gradual roll out one year at a time starting in Kindergarten. Because they shifted all the math 2 years earlier, students in Grades 2-6 all missed 2 years worth of foundational mathematical concepts they needed to know to be successful with the current new curriculum. These kids really got screwed over. And with the new Grades 7-9 curriculum expected to roll out in the next 2-3 years, this cohort of kids will get screwed AGAIN when they’re in junior high.

For a party that preaches the urgency of not losing learning time, this group of students lost 2 years worth of foundational learning because they chose not to pilot or roll out this curriculum properly.

BTW These are results collected across the province and includes public, francophone, independent, charter, and private schools. And no PAT results were available in 2023-24 because they were not written that year with the new curriculum.

This article reminded me of your recent post on PAT scores and math in the province.

Math scores among Canadian students have been declining for more than a decade, according to a recent report, and it will take a broad-based strategy shift from educators, parents and society at-large to reverse the trend, an expert says.

According to Colgan, a child’s math scores in kindergarten and Grade 1 are a better predictor of overall success in school than reading scores.

In a report published last week, the C.D. Howe Institute called declining math scores an “urgent national challenge,” as early math achievement is linked strongly to success and earnings in many careers including those in the fields of science, technology and finance.

In the report, author Anna Stokke, professor in the department of mathematics and statistics at the University of Winnipeg, said Canadian students across all provinces are on average performing below international benchmarks, according to data from 2023.


“Math achievement has been falling for well over a decade, beginning well before the COVID-19 pandemic,” Stokke wrote in the report.

“More Canadian students now struggle in math, fewer excel, and in several provinces, the decline is roughly equivalent to two or more years of schooling.”

Experts largely agree that the reason for declining math scores amongst Canadian elementary students is multi-faceted.

However, one important factor is a shift in recent decades away from teacher-led instruction towards inquiry-based teaching, said Colgan.

“There was a huge move from teaching skills, procedures, strategies and applications to an entirely inquiry-based approach. Basically, children were asked to invent strategies, discover algorithms and invent their own solutions,” she said.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/articl...eds-to-change/

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by troutman

3 in 10 Albertans would vote for independence — but only half committed to separating

https://globalnews.ca/news/11635705/...sm-ipsos-poll/

So, 15%.

Except that any referendum question doesn't include anything about "real-world consequences", it's just a yes or no for separation. So 30% is the baseline, and it could easily balloon to over 50% with the right propaganda as we saw with Brexit

[Whynotnow]

I see Paul Brandt is teasing that he’s about to become the singer for the separatist movement, F him.

[troutman]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

Except that any referendum question doesn't include anything about "real-world consequences", it's just a yes or no for separation. So 30% is the baseline, and it could easily balloon to over 50% with the right propaganda as we saw with Brexit

No will win by 40-50 points.

Search assist re:Brexit

Before the Brexit vote on June 23, 2016, opinion polling showed mixed results, with many polls indicating a close race between those wanting to remain in the EU and those wanting to leave. Generally, online polls tended to predict a slight advantage for the Leave campaign, while telephone polls often showed more support for Remain, reflecting the complexities of voter sentiment leading up to the referendum.

Fewer than 30% support Brexit now.