NDP
Now would be a great time for Naheed Nenshi, the Leader of Alberta's NDP, to come clean on choice in education.
Thanks to everyone who signed our petition calling on NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi to come clean on school choice.
We launched it after he headlined a conference hosted by Public Interest Alberta at the Alberta Teachers’ Association - two groups that want charter schools abolished and independent schools defunded.
But, now that he has won a by-election and is a sitting MLA, it is the perfect time to step up the pressure on Naheed Nenshi to come clean.
We certainly didn’t see him address his views on school choice when facing voters in his by-election in Edmonton-Strathcona, nor did we see anyone in media ask him about it!
Nor was any light shed on the question when the aspiring premier's former campaign manager - Stephen Carter (a vicious opponent of school choice in his own right) - compared him admiringly to Zohran Mamdani - an avowed socialist mayoral candidate in New York City.
We thought it might have come up, as Mamdani has promised to use his powers as mayor to end the tiny amount of school choice offered in America's largest city, while Nenshi has not been clear either way.
Both Carter and Nenshi's ex-chief-of-staff said Nenshi's politics were different, but didn't elaborate on whether that extended to choice in education.
As party leader, he is also responsible for his party's fortunes more generally.
The NDP has a spotty record on education freedom.
They know it's popular, and they want to win elections, so they have been careful not to be too strongly opposed.
But they have shut down a home schooling society (reversed in court), threatened certain independent schools with defunding, and have denied new charter school applications.
And recent polling shows the NDP at risk of losing many seats they currently hold, already a minority.
Clarifying his party's full-throated support for a popular policy, like school choice, might be attractive to Nenshi just about now.
And showing that his New Democrats are more sensitive to actual democracy than labour-union-led special interest campaigns might be a good move with a teacher strike looming.
If Nenshi still refuses to come clean, the government or a back-bench MLA could always force him to take a position by tabling a bill advancing more choice in education.
That's an opportunity any MLA who is a true supporter of school choice will have - now that Nenshi actually has a seat in the Alberta Legislature - an opportunity no one had before to get him on the record.
But we're not here to offer any politician or political party our political advice.
We're here to advocate for families to get more of what they want and less of what they don't want from Alberta's education system.
That's the real reason why a bill advancing more educational freedom would be valuable!
If both parties who currently hold seats could credibly commit not to roll back choice in education, we could focus our efforts on convincing them to expand it!
And if Nenshi won't come clean and tell us where he stands on school choice, that tells us quite a lot too.
If you agree, sign our petition.
After you've signed our petition, please share it.
Let's make the most of this opportunity to say Nenshi must come clean.
The more awareness we raise by each of you signing this petition, calling on your friends to do the same, sharing the petition on social media, and so on, the more likely it is that more Albertans will ask him the question directly.
Support for the federal NDP may be waning elsewhere, but party leader Jagmeet Singh thinks the NDP can be the winning ballot in a number of Edmonton ridings. Singh bases his hope of painting Edmonton NDP orange on the strong following of the NDP in the provincial election and the strong candidates that will be running in Edmonton ridings.
Lorne Gunter thinks that Trump and Slump (the NDP's) are playing into the LIberal's hand and are the prime reason for their surging popularity.
In addition to her resigning as leader of the Alberta NDP Rachel Notley she also vacated her Edmonton-Strathcona seat on December 30. Yesterday the new Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi announced he’s seeking the party’s nomination to run as a candidate in Notley's vacant Edmonton-Strathcona riding. Nenshi was mayor of Calgary for more than a decade and will now divide his time between the two cities.
Premier Danielle Smith has until until June 30 to call a byelection but on Friday she said the byelection would be called before the deadline.
After being a prominent figure in Alberta politics for 17 years, on Thursday Rachel Notely announced her pending resignation as MLA for Edmonton-Stratcona . Notely was first elected to represent the Edmonton-Strathcona riding in 2008, then became leader of the provincial NDP in 2014, led the NDP to victory in 2015 but the NDP failed to repeat that in the next two elections. On January 16th, 2024 Notely announced her plans to step down as leader of the Alberta NDP and on Thursday she announced her intention to resign as an MLA effective December 30, 2024.
Notely says she and her family have been long time residents of Strathcona and have no intention of moving. Although her role in provincial politics will soon be over its unlikely that Notely will just fade into the sunset so we'll have to wait to see what her next chapter might be.
For decades the NDP were Edmonton-centric party because its leaders lived hereand Edmonton was the only place in Alberta where it actually won seats. There have been changes with the party and Calgarian NDPers outnumber Edmontonians by nearly two-to-one. Along with the shift of the NDP voting base to Calgary is former Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi, who joined the party and is the current frontrunner for leadership of the party. With the changes in the party and shift of the base to Calgary the future looks promising for the NDP.
Rachel Notley confirmed rumors yesterday when she announced her intention to step down as leader of the NDP. Rachel Notley was first elected to the Legislative Assembly in 2008, elected leader of the NDP in 2014, premier of Alberta 2015 to 2019 and leader of the opposition since then. Notely will stay on as leader of the NDP until a new leader is chosen but has not said how long she plans to remain as an MLA. She has also stated that she is “absolutely not” pursuing a role in federal politics.
The federal government’s Bill C-11 is officially known as the Online Streaming Act, but could probably be more accurately described as the Internet Censorship Bill.
This Bill is currently making its way through the federal Parliament in Ottawa and it could soon become the law of the land.
The Liberals and the NDP claim that the Bill will ensure Canadian content creators are compensated properly and that large online platforms and streaming services contribute to creating more Canadian content.
They maintain that regulation is needed to ensure Canadian content is at the forefront, and not taken over by large US-based platforms.
Canadian taxpayers probably shouldn’t be forced to fund Canadian content that no one bothers watching, but that isn’t even the real problem with the Bill - it’s much more sinister than that.
What you are allowed to see when you go online could soon be decided by the government.
The Bill opens the door to regulating not just corporate media, but user-generated content too - everything from TikTok videos to podcasts, audiobooks to citizen journalism.
The Bill gives authority to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to treat content creators as broadcasters and regulate user-generated content as a program.
The scope of the Bill is massive.
It basically takes the old regulatory system for TV and radio from before the internet was even invented, and applies those stringent rules to almost all audio-visual content.
Now, here’s where things get interesting.
Despite the Bill explicitly handing over control of user-generated content to the CRTC, the CRTC says that they actually have no interest in regulating this kind of content.
The Liberal government backs up the CRTC, saying that isn’t the point of the Bill.
Ok, but then, if that’s the case, why haven’t the government simply narrowed the scope of the Bill and removed the language that allows for abuse of power?
Groups like the Alberta Institute, and others across Canada, have been working against this Bill for over a year.
The federal government has had the opportunity to fix these issues.
Instead, their response is simply: “Just trust us.”
That’s not good enough.
Even worse, the Liberals say criticizing the bill is part of an organized campaign of “misinformation”.
What could possibly go wrong when they’re in charge of what you see and hear?
This rule could be used to regulate “misinformation”.
Of course, they’d the be the ones who get to decide whether something is “misinformation” or not.
Governments rarely ignore their own sweeping powers - Emergencies Act, anyone?
But, even if you believe the *current* government when they say they definitely, totally, absolutely, won’t ever use these new powers… do you trust that no *future* government will, either?
In a free market, the art and the content that people want to consume is the art and content that succeeds.
Government control of what you see when you go online is an infringement on freedom of expression, but also on the free market.
This isn’t about making Netflix pay their fair share, or about increasing Canadian content; it’s about regulating the internet and controlling what is accessible to viewers.
In this day and age, the internet is a critical part of freedom of expression.
Online content should never be regulated.
Canadians must be the sole deciders of what content they consume.
Not the government.
If you agree, please consider signing our petition:
| STOP GOVERNMENT CENSORSHIP |
Please also consider forwarding this email to your friends, family, colleagues, and every Canadian, to help stop this erosion of our freedoms.
Regards,
The Alberta Institute Team
A new leader may give the NDP a new face, new ideas and new impetus.