In the Annals of Absurdity, Alberta Teachers' Strike Tops the List

(AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File)

With a starting salary of $65,000 a year, an average of about $85,000, and salaries topping out at well over $100,000 or more a year, Alberta teachers are doing pretty well. In the cities, the salaries are even higher. 

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Alberta Teachers Strike

Great to see a lively discussion on our column in @calgarysun

 Albertans can’t afford $2B more for teacher union demands

If the union had accepted the offer, new teachers would have started at about $71K per year while teachers with 7 years experience would be making $100K+

Province had also committed to hiring more teachers & building 100+ schools

Teaching First Grade for $85,000 ain't that bad, all things considered. And if you get one or two of those phony "education" degrees--I would!--your six-figure salary with a summer off sounds appealing

...how does Alberta teacher compensation stack up against their colleagues' pay across the country? And what else do governments consider when balancing fair wages with managing the public purse?

"The Alberta advantage was that Alberta teachers made the most in all of Canada," Alberta Teachers' Association (ATA) president Jason Schilling said in an interview in early September. "But that's just simply not the truth anymore."

Alberta now on track for even bigger budget deficit, now at $6.5B

Statistics Canada has published data on how teacher pay compares across Canada. However, the most recent comparisons available are from 2022-23.

Data from that year shows Alberta primary and secondary teacher salaries are slightly above national averages.

However, since then, teachers in Newfoundland and Labrador, Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan have signed new contracts awarding wage increases.

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Not so for Alberta teachers, who have enjoyed the highest salaries in the country, and are worried that they might lose that status if the cash-strapped provincial government doesn't create a sales tax and raise their salaries by substantially more than the 12% increase they have been offered. 

The absurdity of this strike is off the charts. Alberta currently has a $6.5 billion deficit, and while that number seems absurdly small compared to US-scale deficits, Alberta isn't run like California. 

The teachers' solution to their "low" salaries is, of course, to just raise taxes, because your money is really theirs, and they do such an outstanding job of teaching the kids. They are the "experts," and obviously care deeply for the kids. 

So much so that they have been off the job for three weeks. The sacrifices they make For the Children™ are amazing!

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Alberta's Premier Danielle Smith is fed up, and the province is looking to pass legislation that will force the teachers back to work and into arbitration. 

What a concept. 

FDR was right: public employee unions are an absurdity. It's the government striking against the public. 

Abolish them. 


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Beege Welborn 8:40 PM | October 24, 2025
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