Red Deer South MLA Jason Stephan accused some Alberta teacher “union bosses” for imposing NDP ideologies on children in a rambling, slam-poetry style speech in legislature this week.
“Given that ATA (Alberta Teachers’ Association) union bosses are not the boss, given this NDP has no boss, NDP Jagmet (Singh) mothership is a puppet boss, given that (Prime Minister Justin) Trudeau is no good — he is no boss… then who is the boss of children’s education?” Stephan asked rhetorically during Question Period on Wednesday.
Alberta’s Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides took up Stephan’s prompt to respond: “Of course, parents are the bosses when it comes to deciding on education of their kids.”
This got a huge round of clapping support from other members of the UCP government.
But the exchange was condemned on Thursday by Alberta NDP leader Rachel Notley. She said Stephan was “incredibly disrespectful” to his constituents and other members of the house for using Question Period to air an “outburst” and “outpouring” of incoherent words.
“Question Period is a process where all MLAs can ask the government questions that their constituents care about… 99 percent of what he said was blatantly incorrect,” said Notley.
Stephan countered that he was just using humour to get a message across: that parents should be the ultimate authority of their children’s education.
His questions were based on Alberta getting a high grade from CARDUS, a non-partisan Christian think tank, for promoting diverse styles of schools and education.
“I love people, I love families, and I love them being the boss,” said Stephan, who noted no personal attacks were made in his speech, which was well received by his party and “even got some laughs from the NDP.”
A video of Stephan’s presentation, praising the government’s support for independent and charter schools, was also later posted to the UCP’s social media and received a wide range of public responses.
One woman commented: “Absolutely right! Teachers stay in your own lane! These are not your kids, keep your ridiculous thoughts to yourself!! More parents will find a way to home school” — while others remarked on Stephan’s inability to speak intelligibly.
“This post is word salad,” said one resident.
Another person raised the apparent contradiction in how the UCP is championing choice in education and yet trying to curtail people’s choice in accessing transgender medical procedures.
“You’re saying parents, not politicians, should be in charge of making decisions for their children. And yet your ‘boss’ wants to take away the right of minors and their parents to make medical decisions in consultation with their doctors,” the woman stated.
Stephan said the government doesn’t allow children to drink before the age of 18 either. The UCP believes that a degree of maturity is needed for people to make life-changing decisions because what a teenager wants can change over time, he added.