New poll suggests bulk of public back Alberta teachers in contract dispute

A young Angus thomas reid bring canvass suggests locked-out teachers feature more public support than the Alberta government as a contract dispute cancelled classes for a second week.

The online poll, which more than 800 Albertans answered last Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, suggests 58 per cent of the public sympathizes with Alberta teachers.

Of those polled, 21 per cent said they supported the provincial government’s position, and another 18 per cent hadn’t chosen a side.

Angus Reid Institute president Shachi Kurl said in an interview Tuesday that gauging public opinion is key information as the parties returned to the bargaining table.

“Public sentiment will be the pressure point that either creates a situation where one side is more motivated to perhaps settle,” she said. “Or if they are resolved to dig in on that position, then it behooves them to make the case to the general public, and again to parents as well, more forcefully.”

About 51,000 public, Catholic and francophone school teachers across the province went on strike on Oct. 6 after voting almost 90 per cent to reject the latest contract offer from employers.

It was the second tentative agreement teachers have rebuffed since May. At issue are teaching and learning conditions in schools, class sizes and support for students with additional needs, and salaries the Alberta Teachers’ Association say lag inflation.

The Teachers’ Employer Bargaining Association (TEBA), which negotiates on behalf of school boards and the government, locked teachers out last Thursday.

Classes remain cancelled for an estimated 750,000 kindergarten-to-Grade 12 students across the province.

The Angus Reid online poll surveyed 807 people who belong to the organization’s forum.

The polling industry's professional body, the Canadian Research Insights Council, says online surveys cannot be assigned a margin of error because they do not randomly sample the population.

The pollster also asked respondents if they had children and school and who they voted for in the 2023 provincial election.

Poll shows support for Alberta teachers as strike continues for second week

NDP voters were far more likely to support the teachers in the contract dispute.

The results suggest 40 per cent of United Conservative Party voters were sympathetic to the government’s position, 28 per cent were sympathetic to the teachers, and another 28 per cent supported neither side.

The other respondents weren't sure how they felt.

The poll results suggest 84 per cent of respondents feel there are “too many kids” in public school classes, and that 56 per cent feel teachers aren’t paid enough.

Another 62 per cent of people believe the Danielle Smith government has done a “poor” or “very poor job” of managing education in the province. Results suggest seven in 10 Albertans believe the quality of education in the province is worse than when they were in school.

Nearly two-thirds of people with children in school say cancelled classes have disrupted their day-to-day lives.

The survey also gauged support for public funding going to inent schools. Results suggest 71 per cent of respondents think the government should focus mainly on improving public schools, but point to a third of Albertans hoping to cut all their public funding.

Lori Williams, associate professor of policy studies at Mount Royal University in Calgary, said the poll could influence the strategy of both parties in the contract dispute.

Broad dissatisfaction with class sizes and the government’s management of K-12 education gives the teachers more ammunition at the bargaining table, Williams said.

Williams said the poll results also suggest the provincial government’s public information campaign leading up to the strike and public messaging around the conflict has failed.

“They've taken a stance and a tone opposed to teachers in a way that most Albertans are not opposed to teachers,” Williams said.

Middle school teacher Amrit Rai Nannan said Tuesday the poll results match the sentiments she’s been hearing since the strike began.

Rai Nannan, president of Rocky View teachers local 35, which includes teachers in bedroom communities around Calgary, says she’s hearing the same support for teachers when she takes her kids to sports matches, attends protest rallies or even at the coffee shop.

Rai Nannan says teachers took job action without pay because they feel passionately that they are on the right side of history, and want to achieve meaningful change for students.

She pointed to her daughter’s Grade 12 English 30-1 class, which has 46 students enrolled.

“How do you even teach like that?” she said.

Although teachers are confident that they’ve been accurate in their descriptions of deteriorating school conditions, Rai Nannan said sometimes it’s hard to tell when you’re in an echo chamber.

“For us to be able to have it validated in a poll that has mathematics behind it … I'm hearing that most people are behind us, and that just reading it is validating," she said.

She said hopes the result pressures the government into taking meaningful steps to address class size and complexity.

“We’re teachers. We live on hope and rainbows and coffee,” she said.

Williams says although the next provincial election is two years away, public dissatisfaction with a government’s management of major files like health and education can be difficult to recover from.

Kurl said it could depend on how the conflict evolves in the coming days and weeks.

“If this drags on, the big question is, who do parents blame?” she said. “Do they lose patience with the teachers' union, or do they lose patience with the Smith government?”

Provincial affairs reporter

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