Alberta government expected to table Back to School Act today

The Alberta regime is expected to tabularise statute law mon that, if passed, could drive teachers to return to their classrooms as early as this week, some experts say.

The introduction of Bill 2, also known as the Back to School Act, was foreshadowed last week through an order paper posted on the Alberta legislature's website.

An order paper lays out motions that government members and MLAs intend to make during a legislative sitting.

The legislation would come three weeks after Alberta teachers walked off the job on Oct. 6. The historic provincewide strike came after months of negotiations and two failed deals with the province.

The Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA) — representing the roughly 51,000 striking public, Catholic and francophone teachers — has highlighted the need to address major issues, including salaries, large class sizes, classroom complexities and a lack of resources.

Jason Foster, a labour relations professor at Athabasca University, said the government hasn’t been entirely clear on the details of the bill.

Foster believes the bill will make the strike illegal and will force teachers back to work, which would send the unresolved issues to an arbitrator who will decide the final contract and its parameters, he said.

He added that the government might institute additional penalties if teachers defy the orders.

If the bill is passed before Tuesday, Foster predicts that teachers may be forced to return to classrooms as early as Thursday.

A statement from Finance Minister Nate Horner's office said the government would pass the legislation on Monday with the intent to get students back in school as early as possible.

ATA president Jason Schilling said Friday that the union had no knowledge of the details of the bill.

If the bill does not address the major issues affecting Alberta teachers, he said, the union may consider launching a legal challenge — something the union has done before. 

In 2002, Alberta teachers launched a legal challenge after the Ralph Klein government passed emergency legislation ordering teachers back to work. Teachers won that case.

Foster said a legal challenge now might not turn out the same way. The Klein government declared the strike a public emergency at that time. If the teachers' union were to go to court this time around, the case would have to be called on the basis that Bill 2 is contrary to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Read our coverage from the 2002 strike:

“Those kinds of challenges are much slower. We wouldn't see an initial decision for months and the actual case probably wouldn't get a final resolution for two, three, four years,” he said. 

Foster noted that the government could look to invoke the notwithstanding clause in Bill 2, so that the teachers' union can’t challenge it.

The notwithstanding clause, Section 33 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, is a legal tool that allows provincial and territorial governments to override certain protected rights in a piece of legislation. Such a declaration would expire in five years, but the government can always re-enact it.

Striking teachers hold large rally outside Alberta legislature

The government has not said it will use the clause for Bill 2, although Alberta union leaders are worried it could. The Alberta Federation of Labour, which represents more than 350,000 workers, has threatened to mobilize if the government invokes the notwithstanding clause.

Using the notwithstanding clause could send a divisive message to the province’s unions, Foster said.

“It is an admission that they know they are violating the teachers’ Charter-protected rights, and they don't want to suffer the consequences of violating those rights," Foster said.

“If they do this, it would be a real gamble, because it has the potential of waking up Alberta's labour movement and bringing them into the fight.”

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