Friday Focus: Albertans are compassionate? Why isn't our Government?

The Friday Focus is a weekly blog post from Alberta Liberal Leader John Roggeveen. It covers some of the major topics in Alberta Politics each week.

Albertans are compassionate people. But you wouldn’t know that from how the UCP is governing. 

The UCP is considering forcing teachers to misgender students if they don’t have the permission of parents to use the student’s chosen pronouns. 

If that sounds draconian, that's because it is. The conservative government of Saskatchewan even overrode the protections in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms with the notwithstanding clause to guard similar legislation from constitutional challenges. 

Transgender, non-binary, and gender-nonconforming students all face tremendous challenges at school. The last thing they need is the UCP trampling over the charter to deny them their identity.

Also, this week, I had to call on the government not to claw back AISH payments in response to new incoming federal income assistance for disabled Canadians. And to start paying AISH recipients on time, which they haven’t been doing since 2020.

Our government should reflect our values. And letting the disabled live in poverty and trampling on the rights of vulnerable kids are not Albertan values. We’re working hard to ensure Alberta’s true values are reflected in our politics—values like compassion.