Alberta NDP urges public to step up as striking teachers may face back-to-work bill

EDMONTON — Alberta’s Opposition NDP says it will fight the government’s looming plan to introduce a bill to force striking teachers back to work but admits it has limited options.

NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi says the public needs to do what it can to pressure the government into rolling back.

“We’ve got a certain special role … but we need you to do your part,” Nenshi told a news conference Wednesday.

“We also need you to call your UCP MLAs and tell them that the way they’re dealing with the teachers is unacceptable.”

The legislature is set to resume its fall sitting with a speech from the throne Thursday.

The strike, centred around a dispute over wages and working conditions, has affected 750,000 students across 2,500 public, separate and francophone schools.

About 51,000 teachers have been off the job for more than two weeks. Smith has said teachers can “fully expect” to be legislated back to work should the strike continue into next week, calling it an intolerable hardship for students and families.

Nenshi says it’s the wrong approach.

“Everyone wants students to be back at their desks and teachers want to be at work, but this is not the way to do it,” he said.

Nenshi told reporters Wednesday that his caucus can try procedural tactics to try to delay the bill’s passage but noted there is little the NDP can do to stop it given Smith’s United Conservative Party holds the house majority.

“Let’s make no mistake, they’re going to ram it through as fast as they can,” he said.

“So unless members of the UCP caucus suddenly get religion, ethics, competence and values, that legislation will pass.”

Nenshi said he knows the strike has been frustrating and that many families and teachers just want schools to reopen again. But he thinks parents also don’t want their kids to return to an underfunded classroom.

“We’re hoping that the UCP will at least try and make a deal that addresses some of these concerns, because even if you say, ‘We’ll go back to work and we’ll figure it all out later,’ when’s later?” he said.

“Kids don’t have forever. We have to fix it now.”

Nenshi said the NDP has invited teachers to take in Thursday’s throne speech from the gallery of the house and noted that many more are expected to rally outside the legislature.

The Alberta Teachers’ Association, which represents the striking teachers, has said it’s weighing its options when it comes to responding to a back-to-work order but hasn’t offered details on what that might look like.

On Monday, government house leader Joseph Schow refused to provide details about the government’s plans and whether it would use the Charter of Rights and Freedom’s notwithstanding clause to ensure its strike-ending law was protected from a possible court overruling.

“I can also say that we are very concerned about getting kids back in the classroom, so we’ll use whatever means are necessary,” Schow said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 22, 2025.

Jack Farrell, The Canadian Press