Dozens of students, faculty and staff protested at Calgary’s Mount Royal University on Tuesday afternoon in opposition to the governing United Conservative Party’s decision to force an end to the recent province-wide teachers’ strike.
Chanting “charter rights are human rights,” protesters expressed concern about Premier Danielle Smith’s government’s use of the notwithstanding clause in the Canadian Charter of Rights to shield it from a court challenge.
“If the government feels that it can end collective bargaining and use the sledgehammer of the notwithstanding clause, that’s something that we all have to stand up for,” said Brenda Lang, president of the Mount Royal Faculty Association.
Tuesday’s protest came four days after high school students from across the province staged walkouts last Thursday to protest the UCP government’s decision to force an end to the three-week-long strike by the province’s 51,000 teachers.
The UCP’s use of the notwithstanding clause has upset labour organizations across Alberta.
“This action represents a blatant abuse of power, undermining fundamental constitutional rights, eroding collective bargaining, and attacking the protections guaranteed to workers under Canadian law,” said Lang in a news release.
“This isn’t just about teachers. It’s about every Albertan’s right to stand up for their freedoms. The MRFA will stand with them,” added Lang.
Alberta Federation of Labour has threatened a possible general strike by the province’s unions in response to the use of the notwithstanding clause.
The UCP, for its part, doesn’t seem all that worried about the AFL’s threat.
“It sounds like a plan to make a plan,” Finance Minister Nate Horner told reporters last week. “I didn’t hear much concrete there. It sounds like they’re gonna do some data-mining, that this is somehow politically driven.”
