The province has announced it would begin development on a new Filipino language and culture curriculum.

Premier Rachel Notley made the announcement on Thursday, February 7 at a round table with community leaders.

“Providing learning opportunities for students in a variety of language programs helps youth maintain their heritage, strengthen their cultural identity and build language and literacy skills,” said David Eggen, Minister of Education. “Strengthening language programs based on local need and demand can be an effective tool in addressing racism. In fact, this is one of the ways we’re acting on the feedback we heard, and commitments we made, in our government’s anti-racism consultations and report.”

According to a press release Calgary Catholic School District, Edmonton Catholic Schools, and St. Thomas Aquinas Roman Catholic Schools already offer Filipino language and curriculum through locally developed courses. The province aims to develop a full K-12  curriculum, and Alberta Education will work with stakeholders and community partners to identify resources to support the curriculum.

There has been significant growth in the Filipino community in Drumheller. Principal JoAnne Akerboom says the school currently has about 15 per cent English-language learners.

Cora-Leah Schmitt, coordinator of Curriculum and Instruction for Christ The Redeemer School Division says the recognition of the strong link between culture and language is commendable.

Christ The Redeemer School Division is in support of the implementation of this curriculum dependent upon the demand of such a program, as well as the availability of qualified teachers in this area,” she said.

The curriculums will not be mandatory and school authorities have the choice and flexibility to offer programming that best meets the needs of the community.

Besides English and French, 26 languages are currently available for study in Alberta.

Should Alberta’s provincial elected officials receive pay cuts? United Conservative Leader Jason Kenney thinks so, saying last week that if his party is elected, both MLAs and the premier would receive pay cuts “until the budget is balanced.”

Mr. Kenney said MLA salaries would be cut by five per cent, while the premier’s office would see a 10 per cent cut by the UCPs.

“I thought the Premier should take a larger cut because the premier gets the largest paycheque in the legislature,” he said at a party rally on February 17.

But how much do MLAs and the premier make anyway?

According to Alberta’s legislative assembly website, the MLA base salary is $127,296, but members are given additional remuneration and allowances for other additional duties, such as over $63,648 for the speaker, the leader of the official opposition or a minister with a portfolio. The Premier’s office earns the MLA base salary plus an additional $79,560 for their duties as premier, totalling $206,856. Mr. Kenney’s promised pay cuts would mean the MLA base salary would be $120,931 and the premier would receive $186,170 in compensation.

Drumheller-Stettler UCP candidate Nate Horner says he agrees with the idea of a pay cut, as does the rest of the party.

“All the candidates were completely on board… no one seemed concerned about the wage,” Horner said in an email. “(We’re) Just regular people concerned for Alberta’s future, that want to take a shift and serve.”

And while Alberta Party candidate Mark Nikota agreed with the idea of a pay cut, he says the UCP may have other motives for making that part of their election platform.

"I would support an MLA pay cut as we need to show leadership in tough economic times, however the idea is more about scoring political points then solving problems,” he told the Mail. “If you add up total MLA pay from last year, the cut they are proposing amounts to a total of under $700,000 on a budget deficit of over $8 billion. Every little bit helps though."

Sitting Drumheller-Stettler MLA Rick Strankman and independent candidate in the upcoming election says that five and 10 per cent cuts were not enough and that “during the next nomination I had voiced my position as a 20 per cent cut.”

“How else could we reduce the present government’s multi-billion dollar debt? This is intended as a principled leadership role to begin reigning in the overpriced government spending in managerial positions throughout government.”

Alberta’s parties all seem to gearing into full campaign mode, with the provincial election expected to take place sometime on or before May 31 of this year.

The NDP currently have 52 seats in the assembly, the UCP 25, and three for the Alberta party.