After spirited debate in the Alberta Legislature Tuesday, a vote in the evening ensured Bill 10 passed second reading, effectively killing a private member’s bill, Bill 202.
The controversial Bill 10, brought forward by the Progressive Conservative government, passed first reading Monday – and at about 6 p.m. Tuesday, the legislation passed second reading.
In a free vote, only 10 MLAs opposed it.
The new legislation struck a chord quickly, as it was tabled after Bill 202, which would have made gay-straight alliances in Alberta schools mandatory.
Now, Bill 10 means a student denied a gay-straight alliance can appeal to the school board, and the courts.
“I don’t know many 11-year-olds who can bust open their piggy bank and go onto court,” Liberal MLA Laurie Blakeman said Tuesday.
Blakeman had pushed Bill 202 in the legislature – and she’s taking this new piece of legislation personally, describing it as hastily written and designed to derail her legislation.
She called the way the government put Bill 10 together as ‘mean’ and ‘malicious’.
“They made damn sure I never got to say a word on [Bill] 202, through a number of really low moves,” Blakeman said, saying she had wanted to dedicate the legislation to her mother.
“She worked for the school board, she was a teacher and a principal for 35 years, and she got it because she made safe places for every teacher, staff and child for every school she was in, before anyone else even understood it, and I wanted to dedicate that bill to her,” Blakeman said. “The Tories wouldn’t even let me do that.”
In the legislature Tuesday, Blakeman made a last-ditch effort to prolong debate by making a hoist amendment, but it failed.
With files from Serena Mah
