Albertan Teachers Feel Cheated by Redford

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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The province is scrutinizing its operational budget as it declares the severe need of cutting expenses short in all departments for reducing the financial constraints. Alison Redford was supported by various groups during her campaign, most important of which were the teachers’ who hoped for more investment in the education system after her winning the premier’s chair. It is true to some extend that numerous Albertans merely supported Redford because of her pro-education policies in office.

Though, now that possibility seems to be diminishing as she announced that the province is currently running under a massive $3 Billion deficit this year. Redford openly alleged that “frankly the world has changed and we have some challenges we’re facing with respect to being very fiscally disciplined when providing services to Albertans.” She added that “there’s been a fundamental shift in terms of the energy economy world-wide. That means that we have to be pragmatic.” Current deficit in books is almost three times of what was predicted by the government and the premier have instructed all departments to start saving, including education.

School boards alleged they were hoping that they will reach a new contract with teachers. The head of Alberta School Board Association, Jacquie Hansen, stated that “when we got that commitment from the premier at election time, we were able to start planning out the next three years with funds we knew were coming in.” She added that “we’re back to square one.” Redford’s rival, Rob Anderson, stated that “probably a lot of her supporters feel they were lied to and it’s pretty sad.”