Alberta teachers are unhappy with the amendments to Bill 44 that were proposed by the government. On Tuesday night MLAs agreed that the controversial parental rights provision will remain a part of Bill 44.
The government made some minor adjustments to the bill, one adjustment states parents will not have the option to pull their children from class if question on sex, religion or sexual orientation comes up unexpectedly during classroom discussions.
Opposition MLAs and the Alberta Teachers Association said the adjustments are nothing more than a minor tweak. The ATA said the changes don't go far enough to protect teachers.
"Some teacher somewhere is going to have an upset parent who is going to want to make an issue out of something, some topic that comes up in the classroom and that teacher is going to find him or herself in front of a human rights tribunal," said Frank Bruseker, president of the Alberta Teachers' Association.
The bill is expected to pass third reading Thursday, and this now means Alberta would be the first province in Canada to give parents the power under the Human Rights Act to pull their kids from lessons on sex or religion.
The majority of the discussion surrounding Bill 44 Tuesday afternoon led to a political challenge. The Liberals called on the premier to let his caucus vote freely on the bill.
"I'm allowing my caucus to vote freely on this matter and I believe Tory MLAs should be able to vote freely against this bill," said Liberal Leader David Swann.
And Premier Stelmach allowed it. He said on Tuesday that he's confident the bill would be passed this session.
"It's a good law and I know we have tremendous support in Alberta for that," said Stelmach.
