Big Brother got bigger and he was supposed to get smaller.
Under Premier Ed's Tories, the human rights police will have even more to do and a 26% budget hike to do it.
Lindsay Blackett, the province's main man for rights, wanted the human rights commission to investigate discrimination in jobs, housing and access to services.
Blackett no longer wanted to probe beefs about people having hurt feelings over something someone said. He believed in free speech.
Blackett was given the bum's rush by his own party.
Instead, the Tories will allow the rights commission to rule on those hurt feelings cases. And it looks like parents will also be able to take teachers and school boards to the human rights tribunal if their kid isn't properly opted-out of instruction they say is against their beliefs.
As if the Tories didn't have enough on their plate, this can of worms is opened up because unnamed faith-based groups want it. Blackett never put forward this idea. In an April 8 letter we find out why.
On that day, Janet Keeping, head of the Sheldon Chumir Foundation, sends a warning letter to Blackett.
The highly-respected foundation has worked hard to improve the human rights commission and they like Blackett's efforts.
After a column about parental rights appears in the Sun, the foundation is "much concerned" about any move to "confer upon parents a legal right to prevent their children from receiving education on any topic these parents view as problematic from a religious perspective."
"Why throw a new monkey wrench into the works?" the letter asks of the plan to give parents the right to opt-out their kids from class.
No one knows how this new law will really work. What happens when issues just come up in class? If a student raises the fact a country is legalizing gay marriage, what does the teacher do, refuse to speak? How would an opt-out work on the spot? Would the Human Rights Commission respond to parents who feel their opt-out is not fully respected? Could parents file human rights complaints against teachers or school boards or the provincial government?
"Have you and your colleagues considered the financial implications?" the letter asks Blackett, who didn't propose the idea.
The letter says material about homosexuality and gay marriage is far from the only area where religious objection "egged on by the existence of the opt-out" can be made. Evolution is obvious.
But what about dinosaurs and other events of the distant past incompatible with creationism? What of astronomy and the question of whether the Earth revolves around the sun?
"We have no reason to doubt there are people in Alberta who still think the universe is Earth-centered."
Then there is the history of Native people, their spirituality and their contact with Christianity. Depending how you tell it, someone will push the opt-out button.
Others have mentioned Middle Eastern politics. We know the religious minefield in that territory. What of the study of the rights of women, religious objections anyone?
The Charter guarantees freedom of conscience as well as freedom of religion and there is "no legally defensible reason" why parents couldn't use the opt-out on the basis of conscience.
The children of pacifists won't learn about war and socialist small fries will be shielded from capitalist economics. Then, and this is not in the letter but is suggested in other circles, there is Holocaust denial.
On and on. The letter states "creating a legally enforceable parental opt-out is opening up a gigantic can of worms. No sensible government would go down this road."
The foundation's president says the opt-out is "poorly thought-out" and "nothing good can come of it and the potential harm is great."
At a minimum, the whole proposal must be looked at more carefully. Sadly, many Tory MLAs fly one way, by the seat of their pants. Thinking is for sissies. A few days later, the Sheldon Chumir Foundation says the opt-out is "a slippery slope to administrative and legal chaos."
In the legislature, NDP boss Brian (Wide Mouth) Mason fires on all cylinders.
"All they've done is make Alberta look like Northumberland and sound like Arkansas," says Wide Mouth.
Of course, Brian is referring to the $25 million waste of money trying to rebrand the province as hip and cool while using a photo of an English beach with the tide out to illustrate Alberta and now opening up this rusty old can of worms.
"I want to know how far this premier is prepared to go in allowing parental choice?" asks Mason. No answer.
Premier Ed is upset.
"Sometimes the media will crank up the emotions."
Ah, methinks the man doesn't know how many worms are in the can.