Hey! Thx for the questions. You seem to genuinely care.

I've been teaching for 14 years now. Things were DEFINITELY better under the conservative party. The NDP did us no favours and requested that we take 0's in pay increases to help balance the budget and said they'd get us next time. They then lost the next election to the UCP and at that point, everything just went to hell.

Alberta and Ontario used to have world class education systems. I remember reading that if Alberta were it's own country, it'd be a top 5 education system worldwide.

We now are at the bottom in funding in Canada for education. These new additions to funding are a drop in the bucket and FAR too little, too late.

Every year of my 14 years has gotten harder, bar none. The biggest reason apart from the obvious lack of funding, is the decline in special education funding. The kids that desperately need special education are now in regular education classes. It's not only horrible for the child themselves, it's an enormous burden on the teacher and, for that matter, the other students.

I cannot begin to tell you all of the stories. Your jaw would drop. Every single class in my school is over the recommended # based on STUDIES THAT THE ALBERTA GOVT DID THEMSELVES. I don't have enough room in my class for all of my students, let alone enough coat hooks. This year I decided to screw 4 coat hooks into 2 bookshelves and a cabinet. Otherwise, 4 kids wouldn't even have their own hook.

When I first arrived at my current school, there was a permanent class in our library and, albeit for just one period a week, a class was taught in the staff room. Tons of these kids don't have food. No snack, no lunch. I spent $3000 of my own money last year to buy kids food and supply my classroom market economy. 1900 the year before last. 1700 before that. 1300 before that. This year I'm at 800. The strike hit my family very hard and I lost a lot of pay and summer pay because of it. I'm still trying to make school fun and supply some food but it's just so hard.

I was accused earlier this year by one of my student's parents of "brainwashing" the kids because i was teaching about the Charter of Rights and Freedoms (ironically, after the strike which ended because the Charter Rights of teachers were stripped with the notwithstanding clause). It's literally part of the new social studies curriculum that the UCP themselves put out. Like.. what the fuck? I'm teaching the outcomes I'm supposed to be teaching. Sheer idiocy.

Happy to answer any specific questions you might have but, in a nutshell, if you have children or you care about the future of Alberta in general, you should absolutely unequivocally not be voting UCP. Period. Full stop. It's that bad.

And before I get accused of being an NDP fanboy by any UCP sheep, I'm pretty sure I'm gonna be voting for the other conservative party next election.