Alberta Politics & Government Thread 3.0

[WideReceiver]

Pizza? I’ll use the phone, thanks. FO with the app.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by WideReceiver

Pizza? I’ll use the phone, thanks. FO with the app.

Use the what now?

[WideReceiver]

Phone, as in phone the place.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by WideReceiver

They’re banning Jaws. Freaking Jaws. That shark must be trans.

Keep in mind this is a protest by the librarians to ban things the UCP didn’t intend on banning by following the letter of the law as opposed to the UCP directly banning things.

[Wolven]

Originally Posted by Ped

Gee, if only they could come up with a way to ensure that books are not being read by students at inappropriate age levels. Nope, that's too hard, just ban them all!

Yes, that would cost money because they would need to hire librarians again. Where would they possibly find so many stern looking women with tight hair buns??!?

If they keep increasing student populations at the rate they are without expanding schools then we won't have to worry about it because the school libraries will all end up becoming classrooms.

I've seen the stage of gyms get converted into a classroom. Teachers have had to give up their break/lunch room to make a classroom.

Once the libraries are all classrooms we won't have to worry about book bans anymore.

[MBates]

Originally Posted by GGG

Keep in mind this is a protest by the librarians to ban things the UCP didn’t intend on banning by following the letter of the law as opposed to the UCP directly banning things.

The simple fact is the government is claiming it is not banning books...while it is simultaneously banning the contents of books. I believe all right thinking people can see there is no difference in that distinction.

With respect I disagree this is librarians or school boards protesting. The book banning government did not have the courage to make the actual banned list and stand behind it (because it would take a ton of work and almost certainly be an unprincipled pile of nonsense). So they set the mandatory terms of the ban and forced others to do their dirty work (and created this massive undertaking in July when schools are not open or functioning to be able to even begin organizing their compliance). Sorry, but the UCP government wears this 100% because they have chosen every detail of it.

The Premier's Minister issued a formal Ministerial Order under the Education Act...and she is simply not telling the truth in claiming it gave "discretion" to school boards that is somehow being abused. It contains strict legal compliance language...in other words the government made a legally binding order that must be followed:

The school authority must not select for inclusion in a school library, or make available to any children or students in a school library, materials containing explicit sexual content.

and

A school authority must remove materials with explicit sexual content from school libraries no later than October 1 , 2025.

Anyone can read it for themselves (and bonus marks if you spot the hilarious irony that the Minister of Education cannot properly sign a Ministerial Order).

https://open.alberta.ca/publications/ec-030-2025

The legally binding order mandates that no book can be allowed in a school library - for any student of any age - if it includes "a detailed and clear depiction of a sexual act" which is expressly defined to include:

contact of a sexual nature between the genitalia, mouth, hand, finger or other body part with the clothed or unclothed genitalia, pubic area, buttocks, anus, or if the person is female, the breast, of another person,

There is no way legitimate way around this for the government. If a book contains a detailed and clear description of a person in any way touching the fully clothed breasts, buttocks or pubic area of another person in a sexual manner, then it must be banned and removed. The UCP government have, actually deemed it illegal for any student to be able to access a book that depicts a consensual physical fully clothed make-out session.

As a lawyer, I would be foolish to recommend that a school board defy a Ministerial Order in relation to a book that obviously includes banned content by relying on some vibe along the lines of "but the Premier likes that book" or "I don't think that's really what they were trying to do and we don't want to make our compliance with the law make the government have to explain their law to the public or make Dani have a temper tantrum at a podium."

Stupid ideas stupidly implemented directly caused stupid results. All courtesy of the UCP government...not the people forced to comply with it. In my view.