Alberta premier says back-to-work bill for striking teachers coming Monday

EDMONTON – Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says if no deal is reached in the next few days to end a provincewide teachers strike, her government will introduce a bill Monday to order teachers back to work.

Smith says with the strike deep into its third week, the hardship facing students and families is intolerable, forcing her government to step in.

“We were dismayed that it came to this point,” Smith told reporters at a news conference Thursday.

“We think that the offer we put forward is fair,” she added.

“We hope that there’ll be an opportunity to have a breakthrough, but barring that, we’ve got to get the kids back to class.”

Smith’s United Conservative government has already laid the required procedural groundwork to introduce the back-to-work bill.

It has added to the legislature order paper that it has the option, should it wish to do so, to introduce the Back to School Act, with changes to debate rules to allow for quick passage through the house.

Government house leader Joseph Schow declined to say whether the bill would pass all debate stages to be ready to become law by end of day Monday. Schow said they’re going to see how the chamber debate goes and invoke time limits on debate as needed.

The strike is affecting 51,000 teachers and 750,000 students in public, separate and francophone schools across Alberta.

Members of the Alberta Teachers’ Association walked off the job Oct. 6 and no formal talks with the province are scheduled.

Finance Minister Nate Horner said if teachers want to resume talks, the government is ready and willing to sit down.

“I think we’ve never left the table in the sense that if an offer came across the table this weekend, or if they contacted (the government bargaining agent) and asked for formal dates, conversations will be had,” Horner told reporters.

Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides could not give a definitive date on when students would be back in the classroom, saying those timelines will flow from when the bill passes.

The teachers association, in a statement Thursday, said it “is aware of the government’s plan to introduce back-to-work legislation. As the bill has not yet been tabled in the legislature, its full implications for teachers are unclear at this time.”

Teachers and supporters were set to rally outside the legislature Thursday afternoon at the same time Smith’s government introduced its throne speech to announce its goals and priorities for the fall sitting and beyond.

The association has previously said it is reviewing its legal options should the back-to-work legislation pass. 

The union has not detailed what options it might consider but Jason Foster, a labour relations professor at Athabasca University, has said teachers could simply follow the order, return to classes and go into binding arbitration with the government.

Alternatively, the union could partially comply with the order by returning to schools but limit their teaching activities to continue pressuring the government in binding arbitration. 

A third, extreme option, would be defying the order altogether, putting teachers in direct conflict with the law.

The two sides are deadlocked over wages and classroom conditions. The province has offered a 12 per cent wage hike over four years and a promise to hire 3,000 more teachers to reduce overcrowded classrooms.

Teachers have rejected that offer, saying more teachers and more concrete steps are needed to address class sizes and other complexities such as students with special needs.

Alberta Opposition NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi said this week the public needs to do what it can to pressure the government into rolling back on the back-to-work option.

Nenshi said his caucus will do what it can to stop the bill from passing, but there is little they can do given Smith’s caucus holds a majority in the house.

In a statement Thursday, Nenshi condemned the back-to-work legislation as an attack on teachers, public education, all workers and their unions.

“This is the biggest abuse of democratic rights in Alberta’s history,” he said. 

Thursday’s speech from the throne, prepared by Smith’s government and read aloud by Lt.-Gov. Salma Lakhani to politicians and dignitaries in the chamber, touted Alberta’s “diplomatic victory” against the United States in the ongoing trade war.

Lakhani said diplomatic efforts south of the border mean the vast majority of Alberta exports remain tariff-free while turning the tide of public opinion by quieting a national “anti-energy” movement with its advocacy.

“Alberta is winning and will continue to win this battle for our freedom and provincial rights – because your government believes we are on the right side of history and Albertans will not be denied their prosperous future,” Lakhani said.

The speech also took aim at policies United Conservatives have long railed against, including safe drug supply, federal bail and sentencing rules, and what it deemed “institutionalized censorship.”

Schow has previously said he expects the government will introduce at least 15 bills in the legislature this sitting.

That will include bills limiting how professional regulatory bodies can police their own members, streamlining approvals for internationally trained professionals to work in the province, and making legal changes to continue Smith’s massive health-care system restructuring.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 23, 2025.