Ezra Levant: Alberta Culture Minister Lindsay Blackett Is A Token

I know why Stelmach wants to keep Blackett on the job -- because Blackett is black, and thus gives the government a politically correct patina. Stelmach wants Blackett to smile -- but not to think. He's window-dressing. The one thing Blackett has worked on the past year, the one thing he stuck his neck out for, is the one thing that his own premier has sand-bagged him on.

I guess Ezra will not be getting a Xmas card from Ed Stelmach this year.

Also of note is this line from Ezra's post:

Ed Stelmach, Alberta's weak premier, shows he's still strong when it comes to pushing his MLAs around. Today he put that uppity cabinet minister Lindsay Blackett...back in his place.

As the folks at ARC observe:

We wonder if Levant understands the implications of the word, "uppity"? We think he does and is purposely trying to inject racial politics into the discussion. Pretty shameful, but whatcha go'n a do?

I am an in an enormously good mood this morning. Instead of my normal run into work, I think I shall do cart-wheels for the whole 3 miles.

Alberta Vs. The Creationists, Part III: In Which Minister Blackett Contradicts Himself And Others

"But Lindsay Blackett, the Tory minister responsible for human rights, said in an interview that the intention of the law is to only allow parents to pull children out when the curriculum specifically covers religions, something that only happens for a few hours each school year."

"It's talking about religion (such as) Hindu, or Muslim, or that type of religion, not ... the curriculum with respect to, for instance, evolution," he said.

[...]

Blackett said if people believe the wording of the bill is unclear and could lead to complaints beyond what the law is intended to cover, the government could tighten up the language before it passes.

"If that's the main worry than we can certainly narrow that down, we're reasonable people."

There are two problems with this.

1) Both Alberta Minister of Culture Lindsay Blackett and Premier Stelmach have said explicitly that Bill 44 would allow parents to remove their children from classes in which evolution was taught. So either one of these two guys is lying, or (more likely) they have misread the intention of their own bill, because...

2) the language does not need to be tightened up. In fact, Blackett is correct in the above: the wording of the law states pretty clearly that it applies only where the classroom subject "deals explicitly with religion, sexuality or sexual orientation". The problem is not with the language in the bill, but the language Blackett and Stelmach have used in talking about the bill.

A very confused government, out there in Alberta, I'm afraid...

Total Confusion In Alberta...

...over bill 44, an update to the province's human rights legislation. A minister-on-minister dust up seems to have occurred between Education Minister Dave Hancock and Culture Minister Lindsay Blackett.

Background: teachers are still worried they might be taken to the Alberta Human Rights Commision for, among other things, discussing sexuality in class without having informed parents in advance, so that said parents might decide whether or not their children are allowed to participate in the discussion or even attend.

Education minister Hancock asked that implementation of this "parental opt-out" clause be delayed until next year and...what?

This story from five hours ago suggests that Blackett has agreed to the delay. This one, from a bit earlier in the day, suggests he still wants to press ahead. So I don't know what the heck is going on, but its sure no way to run a rail-road, let alone a province aspiring to national leadership.

I will make a prediction though: I predict that the opt-out clause eventually comes out of the legislation entirely, and we are left with a document that explicitly disallows discrimination on the basis of sexuality.

Update: Blackett tweets:

Section 9 will take effect on Sept 1, 2010 so formalized process can be created by School Boards.

Possibly As Early As This Spring?

Culture Minister Lindsay Blackett says he wants to include sexual orientation in Alberta’s human-rights law, possibly as early as this spring.

Blackett said he also wants to, as part of the same legal reform package, strip the Alberta Human Rights Commission of the power to adjudicate cases involving hate crimes and free speech, adding that those matters are better handled by the hate laws in the Criminal Code.

I may be proven a fool in a week or two, but Lindsay Blackett's dance around his "reform package" re the Alberta Human Rights Code--including the repeal of Section 3--seems to be a gradual backing away from action. We've gone from preparing to prepare to discuss the package in caucus, to preparing to vote on the reforms in caucus, to deferring the pre-debate discussion, to hinting at a deferral in the package itself.

Quite a statement if Ezra can't even get a reform package passed in his home province (by a Majority Conservative Legislature!).

Alberta Minister Hems And Haws Over Section 3

Some talk here from Alberta Minister of Culture and Community Spirit Lindsay Blackett re changing section 3 of the Alberta Human Rights, Citizenship and Multiculturalism Act, which is the local equivalent to Section 13 of the CHRA. His arguments against are the same old same old. Probably the most important part of the story is where Mr. Blackett's hints at a time-table:

His plans have not been taken to Tory MLAs for a thumbs-up or thumbs-down, but he is preparing and sounds confident.

"We haven't talked about it at caucus or cabinet yet, but I've already gone through a few steps. Generally there's support, the support to make a change and do something and not just sit back and say because it's a tough subject we should stay away from it.

In a province with a permanent Tory majority, they are preparing to prepare to discuss. Reform on the slow-track, obviously.

On the other hand, we can already see the effects of this kind of musing.

In any case, a higher priority for Blackett and new Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission Chief Commissioner Blair Mason seems to be writing sexual orientation explicitly into the act.

Parental Rights In Alberta: Bill 44 & The Creationists

Alberta Minister of Culture Lindsay's Blackett's new bill overhauling the Alberta Human Rights Code says:

11.1(1) A board as defined in the School Act shall provide notice to a parent or guardian of a student where courses of study, educational programs or instructional materials, or
instruction or exercises, prescribed under that Act include subject-matter that deals explicitly with religion, sexuality or sexual orientation.

(2) Where a teacher or other person providing instruction, teaching a course of study or educational program or using the instructional materials referred to in subsection (1) receives a
written request signed by a parent or guardian of a student that the student be excluded from the instruction, course of study, educational program or use of instructional materials, the
teacher or other person shall in accordance with the request of the parent or guardian and without academic penalty permit the student

a) to leave the classroom or place where the instruction, course of study or educational program is taking place or the instructional materials are being used for the duration of the part of the instruction,

...and etc. Yesterday, one of my readers noted in the comments that:

Actually, after reading the legislation a bit more carefully, it's quite topic specific. Topics like science remain science, and the creationists would have to prove that the science curriculum is in fact a religion that they disagree with.

It's got a lot less wiggle room in it than Morton's bill had in 2006.

...which is to say that if, for example, there was a class devoted to the history of Buddhism, a Catholic parent might have their child pulled from it according to the new act. And, if so, then the legislation merely codifies what is already happening in Alberta schools. As Paula Simons writes in the Edmonton Journal:

Schools already send home permission forms that parents must sign before their children take classes in sex education. Parents can already pull their children from school programs that deal with religion. I pulled my own daughter from the classroom when the Gideons came to hand out New Testaments.

Yet Premier Ed Stelmach stated yesterday, and Blackett confirmed, that "parents would have the right to opt out of evolution classes".

So how does this square with the relatively narrow wording of the bill? Will the portion of biology class devoted to evolutionary theory get defined as a religion that it is possible to disagree with?

Can of worms indeed.

Bill 44 Going Through

...because "we're not able to retract", according to Alberta Culture and Community Spirit Minister Lindsay Blackett. However, there may be minor changes to the parental opt-out section, particularly:

11.1(1) A board as defined in the School Act shall provide notice to a parent or guardian of a student where courses of study, educational programs or instructional materials, or instruction or exercises, prescribed under that Act include subject-matter that deals explicitly with religion, sexuality or sexual orientation.

[Teachers] had a problem with the wording . . . when it talks about instruction and instructional materials. Some teachers take that to mean any instruction," said Blackett.

"We're looking at how to clarify that."

Not quite sure what is meant here, but my guess would be the teachers are concerned that parents might be able to request an opt-out where, for example, a biology text containing a chapter on Darwin was being used even though the class in question did not concern that chapter.

Meanwhile, Rob Breakenridge laments. He's quite right that AHRC opponents like Bishop Henry have sold their souls over this bill (which the Bishop supports with caveats), but this part is baloney:

Just when it seemed that public demand and political will would finally result in a reining in of the province's much-maligned human rights regime, the Alberta government has fashioned a resurrection of almost Biblical proportions.

Public demand? Or the demands of a few hundred journalists, fringe righties, and blogosphere scribblers?

You know, one thing politicians know how to do better than anyone is count votes. The Stelmach government looked around and realized that the over-haul of their Human Rights Act would involve balancing the demands of the Gay and SoCon communities. If Speechies got stiffed (and they did), that's because the Stelmach government realized there weren't enough of them to be worth the fuss.

(And of course the Aryan Guard marched this year with renewed strength. That helped change a few minds in caucus, I am sure.)

Alberta Human Rights Reform Spiked! I Was Right! I Was Gawddamn Fucking Right! And Ezra Got Stiffed In Alberta!!!

From the mouth Of The Ez Himself. Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach has pulled the plug on Culture Minister Lindsay Blackett's Human Rights reform:

Ed Stelmach, Alberta's weak premier, shows he's still strong when it comes to pushing his MLAs around. Today he put that uppity cabinet minister Lindsay Blackett...back in his place.

...specifically, the repeal of section 3 (the Alberta analogue of Section 13) is OFF THE TABLE!!!

I've been saying that these reforms were stalled for months now and, holy shit!, I didn't even believe it myself at times. But today I can Lord It Over the Alberta MSM and feel totally justified. I got the Alberta zeitgeist pegged better than the Calgary Herald. My glory approaches transfinite levels! Gay rights get added to the act explicitly, and Section 3 doesn't get touched!

And, yo Speechy's, you guys are a bunch of fucking total luzers! All you're doing now is paying Ezra's bills. He can't even advance his Speechy crusade in a conservative province with a conservative majority. Like he couldn't float a Conservative magazine in the same place! When you read his latest post you can taste the flop-sweat in his very choice of fonts. Gawd you Speechy people fucking fail, fail epically, fail utterly, fail fail fail fail!!!!!!

Booyah!! Booyah!!

PS. Thanks go out to the Aryan Guard. Couldn't have done it without you guys!

Lindsay Blackett Out As Alberta Tory Leadership Candidate

 Apparently, his decision was made last month, but done in so low key a fashion that nobody in the MSM noticed.  Meanwhile, Mr. Blackett has issued a ringing defense of the Alberta Human Rights Commission, this in advance of using the Wildrose Alliance's decision to abolish the commission if elected as a bludgeon with which to club the upstart party during a provincial election.

Will Lindsay Blackett Become Canada's First Black Premier?

He is apparently considering a run for Mr. Stelmach's old job.

In the past I've been quite critical of Mr. Blackett.  His handling of Alberta's human rights legislation revamp (bill 44) was not terribly coherent.  In fact, it was confused and contradictory.

And yet  everything seems to have come right in the end.  Section 3 (the hate speech provision) of the act remains in place, sexual orientation as a grounds for discrimination was explicitly written in, and I am informed  that the parental opt-out provision--which would have allowed people to remove their kid from of a class teaching Darwin or mentioning homosexuality--has been so watered down as to be meaningless.

So Progressivism triumphed in Alberta, perhaps accidentally, and this guy appears to have been standing in the vicinity when it happened. Whether that's reason enough to put him in charge of the province, my Western brothers and sisters will have to decide.

PS.  I would just note that Balckett's handling of Bill 44  drove Ezra Levant into a frenzy.  For me, obviously, that's another plus.

Alberta's Bill 44 To Be Implemented This Fall

...over the non-silent objections of teachers, Lindsay Blackett looks to "the silent majority" for support:

"For those people around the country that think that's somehow wrong, we in Alberta believe in family values, because the family's at the core of what makes a great community. . . . We're taking a lead, here."

Bill 44 may allow parents to drag teachers before the AHRC (Alberta Human Rights Commission) if, for example, they talk about religion or sexuality in class without giving advance notice to the parents, who may then ask that their children be pulled from the class in question.

Blackett is obviously preparing for such an eventuality:

"We're looking at overall governance of the commission and we're also looking at training of staff within the commission. So a lot of those things have to happen and we'd like to get them all tidied up before we actually proclaim the bill into law."

Wow! Beefing up the AHRC! Ezra's gonna be pissed.

On The Evening Of May 26th, Freedom Died In Alberta

...and I did a little happy dance:

Kent Hehr, Liberal MLAA for Calgary-Buffalo:

Mr. Hehr: Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I bring this amendment.It is again a recommendation by the Sheldon Chumir foundation that returns an element of free speech to our way of life here in Alberta and is, I believe, really the way our society is meant to operate and how we are supposed to best communicate ideas. Ilook to the Sheldon Chumir foundation, who studied this issue long and hard. I, too, agree with their recommendations, and that’s why I bring them forward here. Free speech is a fundamental right in this society that shouldn’t be intertwined very easily with our human rights commissions.

[...]

Many of the most virulent criticisms leveled at human rightscommissions over the last few years concern provisions that seek tomake statements of opinion illegal. Some of the high profile caseshave concerned opinions on the part of the Christian right about theevil (in their eyes) of homosexuality and cartoons and articles perceived by some Muslims to be offensive or even, according to their faith, blasphemous. We do not endorse the sometimes offensive views expressed by people and organizations who havecome under attack pursuant to legal provisions such as section 3 ofthe HRCMA. But we do have grave misgivings about the threats to free expression inherent in such provisions. Accordingly, they have offered some revisions, which you see before you in the act. Really, these are sort of changes, but the nuances are clear. This will return the wording of our act to the pre 1996 version

The Deputy Chair: The hon. Minister of Culture and Community Spirit [, Lindsay Blackett].

Mr. Blackett: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Fundamentally the government caucus believes in free speech. We’ve had a long discussion, and [yada yada yada..]

[...]

[Motion on amendment A4 lost]

Note that the Stelmach Tories have 72 of the 83 seats in the Alberta Legislature. The fate of amendment A4 was entirely in their hands. Note that the whole process of Bill 44 was an exercise in balancing off the rights (pandering to?) Alberta's Socon and Gay communities. Speechies got sweet FA. Suck on that, Speechies.

So What's Going On With Human Rights Legislation In Alberta?

I dunno.

Either they are on the verge of writing protections for homosexuals explicitly into the Act, removing the power to adjudicate hate-speech cases from the AHRC, and allowing parents to opt their kids out of school classes that go against their religious beliefs (like classes teaching evolutionary biology?)

...or they are not.

I've received a couple of emails from people fairly close to the scene in Calgary who say the Stelmach government, and Culture and Community Spirit Minister Lindsay Blackett in particular, will indeed be going ahead with the reforms, but there have appeared in Mr. Blackett's statements over the past several weeks a number of hedges that make me think this will not happen, at least not in Spring 2009.

However, there are definitely a couple of private member's motions on the table:

In Motion 511 Edmonton-Beverly-Clareview MLA Tony Vandermeer suggests: "Be it resolved that the Legislative Assembly urge the Government to review how complaints are addressed by the Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission to ensure a fair process for both complainants and respondents."

Calgary-Egmont MLA Jonathan Denis is bringing forward Motion 523: "Be it resolved that the Legislative Assembly urge the Government to introduce amendments to the Human Rights, Citizenship and Multiculturalism Act whereby those who are found to have filed frivolous and vexatious complaints with the Human Rights and Citizenship Commission (including complaints that are found to unreasonably challenge the rights of freedom of speech, freedom of association, freedom of peaceful assembly, and freedom of conscience and religion) be required to pay a portion of the respondent's procedural costs."

Note that these are private motions and, if they function in the same way as they do on the Federal level, they don't actually require action on the part of the provincial government: they are non-binding statements of opinion, not changes to the actual law.

Note too that the 2nd motion (Denis') is quite interesting in that requiring the complainants to pay the costs of the respondent is a common reform suggested to the HRC system by people generally supportive of that system (for example, I think Kinsella might have mentioned such a reform, although I can't find the post on his site). However, it turns out that, in some cases where there is an "egregious abuse" of the Human Rights Tribunal process, it can already be done.

In any case, the next few weeks should tell the tale.

Speaking Of Which...

"How can people say I'm anti-gay?" [Alberta Culture Minister Lindsay] Blackett asks. "I can't deal with the arts community every day by being anti-gay. They'd pick that up in a minute."

O! Alberta! But they've paved the streets and they actually spend a fair bit on their educational system. Furthermore, they will be amending the parental rights clause of Bill 44 so it will be more difficult for young Earth creationists (for example) to haul teachers before the Alberta Human Rights Commission:

His changes say that for parents to be notified, the class must be "primarily and explicitly" about religion, human sexuality or sexual orientation.

The word "primarily" is new. It means (or so Blackett hopes) that no child can be taken out of any class just because one of those topics happens to come up.

"This is not meant to get Johnny out of math class because you're upset with the teacher, or get Johnny out of biology class because you don't want the teaching of evolution," the minister says.

The changes, he promises, make it clear that teachers are not prohibited from making "indirect references" to the hot-button subjects.

They will still be free, for instance, to talk about gay rights in a social studies class or religion in a conversation about science.

"We are going to make it clear that our intention is not to interfere with a teacher's ability to have discussions with students," says the minister.

"They should not feel threatened or under duress."

Finally, as if to show how silly all this has become, the act will now refer to classes about "human sexuality" rather than just "sexuality."

Actually, this last bit is not at all silly. Every kid in Alberta wants to know how the dinosaurs did it. Its actually a bit of a mystery. Good to know that Alberta teachers will be able to have at the subject in an unconstrained fashion (lots of hissing and whooping).

PS., there is still the issue of whether a parental rights clause like this should be lodged within the Alberta human rights act in the 1st place, but it looks like that train has left the station; third reading could come within weeks.

And here's one final piece on the implications of the legislation.

Cognitive Dissonance In The Alberta Legislature

Mr. Mason: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Over the weekend the Minister of Culture and Community Spirit admitted that evolution was science, and he said that his government isn’t arguing science. But, you know, despite all of the protestations from the other side about what they’re not doing, we need to remember that it was the Premier himself who said that evolution would be optional if parents objected on religious grounds. This isn’t a fantasy of the opposition; this comes from the Premier. So I want to ask the Minister of Culture and Community Spirit: have you and the Premier figured out why you’re contradicting each other and why the message . . .

Mr. Blackett: Well, Mr. Speaker, I know one thing: I don’t pretend to speak for the Premier[...]if you have a question about what the Premier said, I suggest that you ask the Premier that question.

Mr. Mason: Well, I keep trying, Mr. Speaker.The minister knows that those things are subject to interpretation.It is the interpretation of what is religion that is at stake here.

As an aside, if you are wondering what interpretation of Bill 44 turns a biology class into something that deals explicitly with religion, here's Bishop Henry, who thinks it does not go far enough:

...all education is faith-based to some extent. It's time to ask why the opinions of the majority of the citizens in Alberta are being ignored, i. e., "why should the faith of the atheist and agnostic be the only and the governing paradigm in public education?"

...which is to say, there is no Truth, only faiths. And apparently the agnostic and atheist faith rules in Alberta. Who knew?

h/t Mr Smith.

Alberta Torys Strike Back

The Edmonton Whitemud Progressive Conservative constituency Board has proposed a resolution removing section 9 (the parental opt out stuff) from Bill 44. There is some hope it can be put before the Progressive Conservative Party to vote on at its Annual General Meeting in November.

Good on them. Being Torys, I suppose these folks are part of the "silent majority" Culture Minister Lindsay Blackett insists support the bill.

Man, Would You Look At All The Old White Folk

Ezra plays Calgary, and I'll bet the place hasn't seen this much gray hair since the Rolling Stones last came through town. I suppose when the Speechy Revolution finally arrives these folk will send their grand-kids to the barricades, or they'll mount machine-guns on their walkers.

Speaking of the revolution, the Alberta Budget came down yesterday and in it was no hint of Lindsay Blackett's Human Rights reform package. Perhaps this was not the most likely place to introduce such changes, but several media outlets had suggested they might be made public this week and they have not been.

If Ezra's crusade fails in Alberta...with a Conservative majority in place there for the foreseeable future (and beyond!). Wow! Smell the flop-sweat!

Alberta, Albion Of The Frozen Tundra

In which the Stelmach government uses photos of England in its Alberta re-branding campaign.

Apparently, they were trying to show off Alberta's beaches, and used a shot of Northumberland.

Culture Minister Lindsay Blackett says he can think of a multitude of vistas that could have been used in the campaign, but he adds that it's not his problem to fix.

For example, here's one of Alberta's most famous beaches:

Plenty of sand anyway.

PS. If you're planning a vacation, I think its called "Scab Lake".

PPS. Here's a picture of the beach in Northumberland. Apparently, it was used for its symbolic value rather than location.

A spokesman for Stephen Harper, the Prime Minister, said: "The picture used just fitted the mood and tone of what we were trying to do.

Dear Mr. Lindsay Blackett,,,

Before you weaken Alberta's hate speech laws, please make note of how many times the province is mentioned in this story.