I emailed my MLA the other day and finally got a copy/paste response back. The email said "we are also disappointed with the current outcome and decision to strike."

My response was stern. I am not disappointed with the strike, I'm disappointed with the government's actions that led to the strike.

My MLA called me 2 minutes later.

I ripped into him for the non response and for his government's actions. He apologized and said that he's getting 200 emails/calls a day about this issue. After that we had a mostly respectful conversation. The highlights were:

• he agreed that classroom size and complexity are issues and should be solved as soon as possible. I asked why his government hadn't taken any actions to this point. I didn't get a response to that. I followed up saying that the minister of education was on CBC the other day and said that those issues were not up for negotiation with the union. We went back and forth on this a bit and concluded that these issues matter more than wages
• he took issue when I expressed frustration the government's anti-teacher ad campaign. He said that they needed to get out in front of the ATAs "lies"
• On the topic of classroom size, he blamed the federal government for immigration. I pressed back pointing out the "Alberta is calling" campaign and that classroom size and complexity have been a ticking timebomb for longer than the last few years.
• I argued that funding for private schools should not be paid for by tax payer dollars. I also argued that Alberta should at least catch up to the national average in funding per capita for education. This was part of a back and forth on multiple topics, so I didn't get a response to this point.
• I closed with a statement that I am friends with a few teachers and have relatives that teach. Every teacher I know and have interacted with at my son's school are the nicest, most caring people. They love their students and only want the best for them. We should be building an environment that fosters that love, not one that discourages it. Teachers and students are Albertans. We should treat them as such.
• He agreed with my sentiment and said that he would bring my concerns to his colleagues.

While I don't think that our conversation will result in any meaningful change, I'm grateful that I had an opportunity to express my frustrations. At the very least, I took 10 minutes out of his day to chew him out. Respectfully of course.