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The Alberta Alliance Party will select its next leader November 19 at a leadership convention at the Red Deer Lodge. As a service to our readers, the ATA News invited the four candidates to submit a photograph, a brief biographical sketch and a 100-word synopsis of their platform on education. One of the four candidates, Ed Klop, declined the invitation.
Editor’s Note
—The
ATA News features the leadership campaigns of parties that have seats in the Alberta legislature. The feature on the last leadership campaign, that of the Alberta Liberal Party, appeared in the March 9, 2004, issue of the
ATA News.
Marilyn Burns
Biography
• lawyer • born in Edmonton • bachelor’s degree (Christian education), Christian college, Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan; attended Athabasca University; LLB, University of Calgary • former farm worker; waitress; piano instructor; deli clerk; high school secretary; nurses’ aide, nursing home, training school for children with severe mental and physical disabilities; instructor, summer camp for children and youth; articling student, Ogilvie and Company • lawyer, McCourt Law Offices (2001– ) • volunteer, church and community organizations • four children
Platform
Alberta education would have a brighter future with a government that truly cared about the needs of students and teachers.
The Alberta Alliance education policy provides a framework that would ensure stable funding and predictable teaching and staffing positions and provide the highest quality of education for students. It would eliminate the current accordion-style funding that pits school boards, teachers and parents against one another, and put an end to yo-yo cutbacks and hiring sprees.
In its simplest terms, the framework provides that the total cost of education per child would be determined, with consideration given to special needs students, inclusive of staff, maintenance and other costs. Then, that amount would be allocated to follow each student, based upon the parent’s choice of school.
David Crutcher
Biography
• businessman • born 1940 in Burley, England • degree (mechanical engineering), Brunel University, England; political training, Canadian Leadership Institute, Progressive Group for Independent Business • former manager, large corporations; civilian employee, Canadian Navy • business owner/operator (1994– ) • president, Calgary-Egmont Alliance Constituency Association • Alberta chair, fundraising chair, Political Action Committee, Progressive Group for Independent Business • member, Association of Professional Engineers, Geologists and Geophysicists of Alberta; Concerned Christians Canada Inc.; Conservative Party of Canada • married, five children
Platform
Education is important to me.
I believe schools should be planned in advance when new communities are developed so people can know when the school will be in their area and count on that commitment.
I believe in choice in education.
I believe in allowing more charter schools, and I am also an advocate of home schooling options for parents.
I believe in the voucher system where the dollar will follow the child to the parents’ school of choice.
I believe in standardized testing.
I believe teachers should get a fair and healthy wage for their public service in the education of our children.
Paul Hinman
Biography
• farmer • born 1959 in Edmonton • studied pharmacy, University of Alberta • former irrigation farmer, cow–calf producer, purebred-cattle breeder, feedlot operator, small business entrepreneur • elected MLA for Cardston–Taber–Warner November 22, 2004 • named deputy leader of Alberta Alliance Party January 8, 2005 • vice-president of policy, Alberta Alliance Party (2002–05) • board member, Lethbridge Conservative Association • former member, policy and election committees, Reform Party of Canada • scout leader • four children
Platform
Knowledge is the greatest gift we can give to our succeeding generations. Education that offers breadth and fosters critical thinking prepares our students for a free and successful future. We need adequate resources, more freedom for teachers, more power to parents and more opportunities for our children.
The educating of children should be in the hands of teachers and parents for the benefit of students. Our current system of bureaucracy and micromanagement needs to evolve toward a system of flexibility and opportunity.
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