Alberta Minute: New Curriculum, New Schools, and a Wage Cut Proposal

Alberta Minute - Your weekly one-minute summary of Alberta politics.

This Week In Alberta:

• Controversy over the province's back to school plans looks set to continue with the President of the Alberta Teachers' Association set to meet with the Education Minister on Wednesday to discuss teacher's concerns over class sizes, physical distancing, and COVID-19 testing for teachers.
  
  
• The Legislature's summer break continues with the fall session not due to start until October 26th. The government has, however, announced plans for a one-day sitting on August 27th to debate the long-delayed first-quarter fiscal update.
  
  
• Committees will continue to meet while the Legislature is on break. There are no committee meetings scheduled for this week, but the Select Special Public Health Act Review Committee is due to meet on August 27th and is currently accepting public submissions on the Public Health Act. 

Last Week In Alberta:

• The Canadian Taxpayers Federation called for a 20% wage cut for Alberta's top bureaucrats. The reduction would save the province $6-million annually, which isn't a huge amount, but this would set a good example of fiscal restraint at the top.
  
  
• The provincial government is considering building five new high schools in Alberta using public-private partnerships (P3s). The usual suspects have complained about involving the private sector, but given there are already 40 P3 schools in Alberta, the potential construction time and cost savings, and the desperate need for new schools, even school board chairs seem to be going along with the plan.
  
  
• Alberta's Education Minister said the province's new curriculum will be focused on "evidence, numeracy, and literacy". The 2013 ministerial order on student learning, which promoted "discover" or "inquiry" learning will be repealed.

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