Alberta Minute: Schools Reopening, Financial Literacy, and even more Corporate Welfare

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

This Week In Alberta:

• A busy Spring session is set to come to a close imminently. It's unclear at the moment whether the Legislature will simply go on break, or whether it will be prorogued, meaning a new session would start in fall with a new Speech from the Throne.
  
  
• Bill 30 (Health Statutes Amendment Act) and Bill 32 (Restoring Balance in Alberta's Workplaces Act) are before Committee of the Whole, while Bill 33 (Alberta Investment Attraction Act) is at Third Reading. All three Bills are expected to pass before the session ends.
  
  
• Private Member's Bill 204 (Voluntary Blood Donations Repeal Act) is currently only at Second Reading and it's unclear whether it will pass this week. If the session only takes a break, the Bill will continue from where it left off when the Legislature returns, but if the Legislature is prorogued the Bill is dropped entirely.

Last Week In Alberta:

• The government unveiled plans to reopen K-12 schools in September. Schools must reorganize classrooms for physical distancing, implement daily health screening and strict stay-at-home policies if students or staff are sick, perform frequent cleaning, enforce the use of hand sanitizer, and stagger class times. The government won't force parents to send their kids to in-person classes.
  
  
• In other education news, the government will also launch a Financial Literacy pilot program for Year 10-12 students. The program is offered by Enriched Academy, with the Education Minister noting that Financial Literacy is an essential skill our children need to succeed. No kidding.
  
  
• There's one area where the government could benefit from some more Financial Literacy themselves - corporate welfare. The UCP have reversed their election pledge to cut corporate welfare and are now re-implementing many of the NDP's corporate welfare programs, particularly research and development grants. Lower taxes for all businesses are always fairer and more effective than special handouts to favoured industries or companies. That was true when the NDP were in government and it's still true now.

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