Re: The Alberta Teachers’ Strike
Dear Premier Smith, Minister Nicolaides, and Members of the Legislative Assembly,
On behalf of Young Canadian Changemakers Association, we are writing as concerned young Albertans about the ongoing teachers’ strike that has left more than 750,000 students out of their classrooms. While we appreciate the government’s efforts to provide support measures during this disruption, we must be direct: Albertan children’s education is on the line, and we need solutions that will last, not just short-lived remedies.
The support announced, $30 per day for childcare, free museum admission, and online learning toolkits, provide temporary relief for families managing this crisis. But they do nothing to address why we’re in this crisis in the first place. What we are seeing are the results of chronic underfunding. Worksheets and daily payments cannot replace qualified teachers in properly resourced classrooms. Our children deserve better, and frankly, Alberta’s future depends on better.
This is not about teachers versus taxpayers. Teachers are taxpayers too. They live in our communities, contribute to our economy, and want the same responsible government we all do. When 89.5% of teachers rejected the most recent offer, with 94% voter turnout, this wasn’t about being unreasonable. It was about a profession that has been stretched to its breaking point, trying desperately to serve our children in conditions that have become untenable.
Our children are bearing the cost of chronic underfunding. They’re sitting in overcrowded classrooms where their teacher can’t give them the individual attention they need. They’re watching their schools struggle to provide support for students with diverse learning needs. They’re growing up in a system that tells them education is important through words but demonstrates through actions that it’s not worth properly funding. What message does that send to the next generation of Albertans?
Think about what this means for Alberta’s future. These children will be our workforce in fifteen years. They’ll be the entrepreneurs, the healthcare workers, the engineers, the teachers of the next generation. They’ll be the ones competing in a global economy that demands more skills and knowledge than ever before. Can we really afford to give them a second-rate education because we’re unwilling to make the necessary investments now?
The good news is that everyone’s interests are aligned here; we just need to recognize it. Students need smaller class sizes and adequate support to learn effectively. Teachers need working conditions that allow them to teach effectively. Parents need confidence that their children are receiving quality education. Taxpayers need a sustainable system that doesn’t require crisis intervention every few years. Business leaders need a well-educated workforce. All of these interests point in the same direction: properly funded, well-resourced public education.
This isn’t a zero-sum game where one side wins and another loses. This is an investment with returns that compound over decades. Every dollar we invest in education today pays dividends in economic productivity, innovation, and health outcomes tomorrow. Every dollar we fail to invest today costs us exponentially more in remediation, lost potential, and future crises.
The question isn’t whether we can afford to properly fund education. The question is whether we can afford not to. Other provinces have found ways to implement class-size standards and provide adequate support despite budget constraints. Alberta can do the same.
The cost of inadequate education shows up in remedial programs, in healthcare systems strained by populations without health literacy, in criminal justice systems, in economic productivity lost to an underskilled workforce. We can pay now for quality education, or we can pay later for the consequences of inadequate education. The latter will always cost more.
Children are watching. They’re watching to see whether we mean it when we say education matters. They’re watching to see whether Alberta will invest in their future or just manage the present crisis. They’re watching to see what kind of province they’re growing up in.
Alberta has always been a place that thinks big, that invests in the future, that isn’t satisfied with mediocrity. Let’s bring that spirit to education. Let’s create a system where teachers have the resources they need to inspire the next generation. Let’s build classrooms where every child can reach their potential. Let’s invest in the future of this province by investing in the children who will shape it.
Sincerely,
Young Canadian Change-Makers Association
