UCP members on Saturday vote down controversial anti-racism teaching ban

Lisa Johnson - Saturday

Danielle Smith speaks at UCP annual general meeting beside Lethbridge East MLA Nathan Neudorf, Deputy Premier, Infrastructure Minister and Deputy Premier and Minister of Skilled Trades and Professions, Kaycee Madu on Saturday, Oct. 22, 2022 at the River Cree Resort and Casino. Greg Southam-Postmedia© Provided by Edmonton Journal

Alberta’s United Conservatives during the first annual general meeting under Premier Danielle Smith defeated a controversial policy proposal that aimed to ban teaching anti-racism, diversity or critical race theory.

The meeting, held at River Cree Resort at Enoch, just west of Edmonton, saw 1,800 registrations in advance of the weekend. Members voted on 20 policy resolutions Saturday afternoon following a keynote speech from Smith.

The proposal, put forward by the Edmonton West-Henday riding association, called for a “halt” to what it deemed differential treatment due to ethnic heritage, and “any student being taught that by reason of their ethnic heritage they are privileged, they are inherently racist or they bear historic guilt due to said ethnic heritage or that all of society is a racist system.”

However, the resolution failed to get majority approval. David Parker, executive director of third-party advertiser Take Back Alberta, told Postmedia following the vote that he didn’t think the wording of the resolution highlighted what people are really worried about, which he said is an indoctrination of their children in schools.

“(The resolution) was just way too broad. Also, even though I think a lot of right-wing people care a lot about this issue, I think we have to be open as a party to understand that there’s a lot of diverse views and we have to be very clear that we support minority groups. We care about them, we care about what they’ve suffered,” said Parker, who spoke against the resolution during debate.

“Because of how it would make people feel excluded, we can’t do that,” he said.

The resolution’s rationale points to an incident in 2021, when Edmonton’s public school division reported what it described as a “hate-filled” Instagram account to city police. The account used Strathcona High School’s name and images, and called for an end to “anti-white racism.” Edmonton Public School Board (EPSB) Chairwoman Trisha Estabrooks said at the time that it demonstrated the need for anti-racism education.

During the hours-long policy debate, another resolution from Airdrie East, which focused on parental choice, and called for the party to, among other things, “uphold the rights of parents and caregivers so as not to require them to affirm or socially condition a child in a gender identity that is incongruent with the child’s birth sex,” passed overwhelmingly.

“Barring evidence of criminal neglect or abuse, we start with the assumption that parents are best suited to guide their child’s development,” the rationale reads.

Also passing was a resolution that aims to direct the Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO) to not implement the federal government’s net-zero power grid plan, which involves getting Canada’s electricity systems to net-zero emissions by 2035.

However, a proposal to fire up to 700 management and administrative positions at Alberta Health Services based on pay, cutting those on the “sunshine list” earning more than $140,000 per year, was defeated.

Resolution passed aiming to see municipal officials register as lobbyists

A party resolution that has raised concerns among some municipal politicians was one of 12 to pass Saturday. Championed by the Calgary-North West constituency association, it calls for the province to ask councillors, administration and staff from municipalities to register as political lobbyists when dealing with the province.

Currently, Alberta asks consultant lobbyists and organizational lobbyists to put their names on a provincial registry. They include private consultants who lobby for a living, and representatives from companies, unions or other organizations that are meeting with government officials to lobby for changes.

Bonnyville-Cold Lake MLA David Hanson spoke against the resolution, and told Postmedia following the vote it would create an onerous amount of work that could get in the way of elected officials doing their jobs, which includes sometimes lobbying the provincial government.

“They’re elected to advocate for their communities — who’s going to keep track of that?”

Another resolution that aimed to see Alberta move away from using the term environmental, social and governance goals (ESG) was carried.

Even if a policy resolution is passed through a membership vote, it’s not guaranteed to become government policy.

Meanwhile, all nine candidates that were endorsed by Take Back Alberta for executive positions won their votes Saturday.

“I love it. Now we’re going to be moving into making sure we defeat the NDP, obviously,” said Parker, adding that the group, which worked to help build support for Smith during her leadership campaign, counts 30,000 members.

lijohnson@postmedia.com
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