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This fellow is so level headed. Another great article by Christopher Oldcorn.
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When parents dropped off their children at school earlier this fall, they expected regular classes, not picket lines.
Yet that’s what greeted thousands of Alberta families as 51,000 teachers walked off the job in what was the largest education strike in the province’s history.
Premier Danielle Smith had a choice to make.
Smith could let the disruption drag on, or act in the best interests of students and parents.
She chose action.
By invoking the notwithstanding clause through the Back to School Act 2025, Smith made a difficult but necessary decision.
The legislation immediately ordered teachers back to work, imposed a fair contract, and ensured classrooms reopened across Alberta.
Critics screamed that democracy had been trampled.
In truth, the premier upheld it by protecting families from unreasonable demands, activist overreach, and a prolonged educational crisis.
The teachers’ union painted itself as the victim, but its bargaining position told another story.
Before the strike, the government offered wage hikes of up to 12% by 2027 and commitments to hire thousands of new teachers and educational assistants by 2028.
That’s no small concession during an inflationary period.
Yet the Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA) brushed it off, insisting on even larger raises and more control over class size decisions — terms that would have blown holes in the provincial budget.
Negotiating in good faith means meeting halfway, not demanding the moon.
The strike’s ripple effects were immediate and painful.
Families scrambled to arrange child care.
Parents lost workdays.
Students preparing for exams found themselves locked out of classrooms.
The ATA framed their job action as a moral stand, but the reality was economic brinkmanship.
Teachers weren’t the only workers coping with high costs of living, yet theirs was the only union that chose to hold children hostage to make a political point.
That is why Smith’s government was right to act swiftly.
The notwithstanding clause, Section 33 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, exists for moments exactly like this one.
It allows governments to override certain Charter freedoms — such as the right to strike or collectively bargain — for up to five years.
By embedding it in Bill 2, Smith ensured that no activist judge could overturn the back-to-work legislation on “constitutional grounds.”
This wasn’t an abuse of power.
It was a legitimate use of a constitutional safeguard that Canadians themselves approved in 1982.
The fines embedded in the legislation — up to $500 a day for individual defiance and $500,000 for the union — reinforced the seriousness of the moment.
The message was clear.
In Alberta, no one is above the law, not even a politically powerful union.
That kind of clarity was long overdue.
Predictably, labour federations and civil liberties groups rushed to condemn the move as authoritarian.
The Alberta Federation of Labour warned it would “spark a broader labour response,” while Amnesty International called it an “attack on rights.”
But none of these groups had an answer for the families stranded by the ATA’s political theatre.
The public elected a government to ensure children receive an education — not to enable professional labour leaders to dictate policy from the street.
The Premier’s decision may anger the downtown education establishment, but it reflects a larger truth that elected governments, not unelected judges or activists, are responsible for keeping society functioning.
A strike of this magnitude jeopardized that stability.
Using the notwithstanding clause prevented it from becoming a constitutional circus.
It’s worth remembering that Albertans have seen versions of this before.
When Ontario attempted a similar move in 2022 to end a strike by education workers, critics warned that it would “set a dangerous precedent.”
The real danger lies in letting special interest groups paralyze the public sector and then relying on courts to clean up the political mess.
Smith avoided that trap.
In the coming months, the ATA will likely test the limits of public patience again.
But Alberta families have already seen who was willing to put students first.
Danielle Smith bet on stability, continuity, and common sense.
Her critics bet on chaos.
The strike is over, students are back in school, and classrooms are once again where teachers belong.
That’s not a constitutional crisis — it’s good governance.
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