The Notley government did a little tweaking of the controversial gay-straight alliance (GSA) bill and if Jason Kenney hopes to become premier he should leave well enough alone, at least for now.
Education Minister David Eggen introduced changes to the bill last Tuesday that was initially passed under the Prentice government.
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Those changes would make it clear that school staff would not be allowed to tell parents if their child was a member of a GSA, queer-straight alliance (QSA), or a similar club.
Ever since the legislation was initially introduced in March 2015, parents, educators and politicians have been divided on whether a parent should be notified.
Jason Kenney, while campaigning for the leadership of the United Conservative Party (UCP), made it clear that he believes decisions about what information should be released to parents should be left in the hands of teachers and principals.
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Those comments were music to the ears of the NDP government; an opportunity to show Kenney’s social conservative side.
It’s a narrative that will be replayed over and over again between now and the next provincial election.
Kenney has to avoid the GSA trap and anything else that has a whiff of so-con issues if he hopes to defeat the NDP.
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