Contenders for Brooks-Medicine Hat legislature seat, including Premier Danielle Smith, debate education
The five candidates looking to represent the provincial riding of Brooks-Medicine Hat squared-off for the first time Tuesday night.
The debate on education was held in Brooks, Alta., with Premier Danielle Smith hoping to earn a seat in the legislature.
Most of the talk was about funding and what each party would do to try and support teachers after a difficult three years.
Tuesday night marked the first time that Smith, who became premier just weeks ago, faced questions alongside the candidates running in the Brooks-Medicine Hat by-election.
“I think it's no secret we've had a bit of a bumpy relationship with our government and teachers over the last few years … I think what we must begin with is a position of mutual respect.” Smith said.
The other four people running for the seat say that respect hasn't been there, and it's meant a lack of education funding and challenges for teachers in the classroom.
“The government has not been paying attention to teachers themselves … We need to trust professionals to do their job and we need to seek out their wisdom when it comes to classroom management,” said Barry Morishita, a former Brooks mayor and current Alberta Party leader.
The NDP's Gwendoline Dirk, a teacher for more than two decades, hammered Smith on the United Conservative Party’s plan and rollout of a new curriculum.
“Forcing a curriculum … teachers to teach a curriculum that is backwards, that is 1950s, that they know is wrong, it is damaging for children. That hurts teachers,” she said.
Bob Blayone of the Independence Party of Alberta and Jeevan Mangat of the Wildrose Independence Party of Alberta both touted choice and freedoms.
“We believe in parent's choice. We believe (in) homeschooling, charter schools, private schools and public education because choice will provide competition, competition will provide efficiency,” Mangat said.
“Let's never again mask our children, let's never again shut down our schools and let's have a conversation, please, about shutting down the COVID-19 vaccination program,” Blayone said.
Dirk and Morishita both pledged to increase funding and reduce class sizes.
The premier agreed more help is needed, but stopped short of promising more money.
“I am actively looking at ways we can provide more educational supports to our kids so we can bring them up to speed on the learning loss over the last two years,” Smith said.
Tuesday was the first debate or forum and advance voting in the riding has already started.
There's another debate Wednesday in Brooks and a third will happen in Medicine Hat on Thursday.
This by-election was only called three weeks ago.
By-election day is Nov. 8.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
![](https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.6972157.1721587842!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.jpg)
BREAKING NEWS Joe Biden drops out of 2024 race, endorses Kamala Harris to be Democratic nominee
U.S. President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 race for the White House on Sunday, ending his bid for re-election after a disastrous debate with Donald Trump that raised doubts about the incumbent's fitness for office with the election just four months away. It was a late-season campaign thunderstrike unlike any in American history.
What happens next: Joe Biden wants to pass the baton to Kamala Harris. Here's how that might work
With U.S. President Joe Biden ending his re-election bid and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris, Democrats now must navigate a shift that is unprecedented this late in an election year.
Joe Biden: Trudeau reacts to news Biden won't run for re-election
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau responded to the news that U.S. President Joe Biden won’t run for re-election Sunday, calling Biden a 'true friend.'
Harris, endorsed by Biden, could become first woman, second Black person to be U.S. president
Kamala Harris could become the first Black woman to head a major U.S. party presidential ticket after U.S. President Joe Biden abruptly ended his re-election bid and endorsed her.
Read Biden's full text announcing the end to his re-election campaign
U.S. President Joe Biden ended his re-election campaign on Sunday after fellow Democrats lost faith in his mental acuity and ability to beat Donald Trump. He announced his decision in a letter posted on social media. Read the full text.
LCBO workers ratify tentative agreement, strike ends Monday
The union representing 10,000 workers at the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) has ratified a tentative agreement, which will officially end its two-week strike at 12:01 a.m. Monday.
Joy in Newfoundland after 'Lucky 7' fishers survive harrowing days lost at sea
There was a powerful word being repeated in the joyful Newfoundland community of New-Wes-Valley on Sunday: 'Miracle.'
A 12-year-old girl is accused of smothering her younger cousin over an iPhone
A 12-year-old girl in Tennessee has been charged with murder, accused of smothering her eight-year-old cousin as the younger girl slept. A relative said they had been arguing over an iPhone.
Trudeau and family head to British Columbia for vacation in unnamed location
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will head to British Columbia on Sunday, where he will be on vacation with his family until Aug. 1.