Alberta bill aims to force schools to accept gay clubs
Just seven months after the Alberta legislature defeated amendments to the new Education Act that would have forced all Alberta schools to establish gay-straight alliance clubs, ostensibly to combat bullying, Liberal opposition MLA Laurie Blakeman has brought them back. Since then there has been a provincial election that weakened the province’s social conservatives, a scandal that brought down a premier, and a bevy of turmoil within the opposition Wildrose Party . So Blakeman may feel the bill has a better chance, as well as want to make mischief with both the Wildrose and the governing Progressive Conservatives . “I think in the end everyone will pass the test,” she said, meaning all MLAs will support measures most opposed earlier this year. “I think the bill will pass, but it’s a lot of my explaining between here and there to make sure that happens.” Bill 202, the Safe and Inclusive Schools Act, is backed by the two tiny Liberal and New Democratic caucuses, while the P