Updated: Thu Jun. 04 2009 14:49:47

ctvcalgary.ca

Thanks to the power of social networking tools, worldwide attention was focused this week on the Alberta legislature's fierce debate over Bill 44. Hashtags, online video and instant messaging extended the debate beyond the usual tight political circles.

The controversial law enshrines in Human Rights legislation a parent's right to withdraw their child from certain teachings in the public school system.

It was passed at around 1:30 a.m. Tuesday after days of uncharacteristically fierce debate in the Legislature.

Though many MLAs may not have realized it, a new audience of political watchers was observing them as they traded barbs into the early hours.

The debate was carried live on the Internet and every point and counterpoint was being carefully watched and analyzed by an online group of interested Albertans.

Officials with the Alberta Legislature can't confirm the exact number of users using their online video feed but say it has been operating at "peak levels" over the last two weeks, directly corresponding with the growing public interest in the Bill 44 debate.

The proposed legislation has also been featured prominently on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.

Twitter provides a forum for its users to post comments on anything that may cross their minds. If enough people are talking about the same thing, they can create a special filter called a "hashtag" so that everyone interested in the same topic can follow the conversation.

Searching the hashtag #bill44 yields a record of more than 1,000 messages commenting on the new law including hundreds submitted on the night of the debate.

There is a little bit of everything on the list, ranging from a play-by-play of the bill's final reading, to controversial, humorous, and occasionally offensive commentary.

"#Bill44 reveals that the emperor really wears no clothes. Reduced to angry yelling and bullying in an otherwise civil debate," writes Calgary-based Twitter user andrewmcintyre.

mikebeard, a self-proclaimed computer geek, wrote "FU Alberta!! That's it! I'm moving to Vancouver or TO. ! I'm finished living in the Texas of Canada."

ABConservative offered support for the cause: "Bill 44 is a good piece of legislation. I would have rather seen a different non-HRC route to these protections but I'm still happy."

When Edmonton-Castle Downs MLA Thomas Lukaszuk took a dig at some of the more tech-savvy MLAs across the floor, those watching the debate online immediately pushed back.

"This entire debate right now is being narrated by various members in this Chamber on Facebook, on their computers," said Lukaszuk. "Showing how this debate is really not about the subject matter but how it is about showing what big heroes we are to our supporters."

"Social Media brings the constituents to the #ableg. It's important to get them involved. Shouldn't we discourage apathy?" retorted user britl, a "radio-kid" based in Edmonton.

User burninggoats offered the cheeky reply: "you don't have a computer specifically for facebook?" referring to Lukaszuk's poor command of tech terminology.

The debate hit the global stage when #bill44 received so much online activity Monday night that it briefly moved onto the home page of Twitter's top trending topics, competing with such weighty issues as "#clothdiapers" and "#goodsex".

At that point, people from around the world took notice and started weighing in.

"Help, I need a Canadian," wrote a user called crataegus. "Someone please explain to this addlebrained Amrikan why #Bill44 is stupid. It looks redundant from what I can see."

"Being Australian what is bill44?" wrote MotorbikesLady, who says her real name is Susan.

"note: #bill44 trending on twitter. The eyes of the world are upon #ableg. GOVERN YOURSELVES ACCORDINGLY," warned Edmonton user Adam Rozenhart, who goes by the username bingofuel and has a crown of broccoli stuffed into his nose on his profile picture.

Right now, there are only a handful of MLAs who use Twitter on a regular basis. Calgary-Egmont Conservative MLA Jonathan Denis (JonoMLA) is among them. He watched the virtual debate on his BlackBerry as the actual debate took place on the floor of the Legislature. Denis says the technology is adding an entirely new dimension to political debate.

"This was the first time I saw people both in favour and opposed to a piece of legislation follow it in real time," Denis says via email. "I was impressed with the amount of people 'tweeting' throughout the whole process, regardless of the hour."

Calgary-Buffalo Liberal MLA Kent Hehr (calgarybuffalo) likes the concise constraints of Twitter.

"With only 140 characters to work with, on Twitter, brevity is the soul of both wit & the new political engagement" he tweets CTV Calgary.

Culture and Community Spirit Minister Lindsay Blackett (LindsayBlackett) drew a lot of attention when it was his turn to speak on Bill 44, which he introduced in the Legislature.

"If you are offended by the fact that they are sensitive issues, that's too bad," Blackett boomed at opposition members. "Those parents are whom we represent, three and a half million Albertans, not your little cabal, not your five little ridings or your nine little ridings or your special-interest groups."

Some of those watching online, in turn, took offence at Blackett's comment. The minister says he welcomes the many different viewpoints Twitter provided but is concerned about its accuracy.

"Overall, I think Twitter helped extend the debate to many around the province," says Blackett. "But there has been a lot of passionate misinformation, from teaching of evolution to what will happen to teachers in their classrooms."

The debate over Bill 44 may have ended in the Legislature but it is still raging on in cyberspace. Hundreds of comments have been submitted to Twitter since the bill became law and many believe the expanded role of technology in political debate in Alberta is here to stay.

Comments are now closed for this story

Cindy
Twitter is "news" for the MTV generation and those with short attention spans.

Tamara
The debate has only begun. Global attention is exactly what something like this needs.
If you don't want your children to learn certain things in school, school them yourself.
We're a country of diversity regardless of colour or religion or do's and don'ts.
This is what makes Canada unique.
To survive here you need an open mind. Without and open mind, you will basically get eaten alive. why would you want your children to go through that??

Chad in Edmonton
How about the rest of the world worries about governing themselves. We are quite happy to be conservative in this province (as is clear from the overwhelming majority governments). If you don't like conservative values, then go live somewhere else. We don't want you here anyway. (More oil money from the rest of us.)

Merle Terlesky
People on twitter with nothing better to do can debate this till the cows come home. The fact is that parents have a legitimate right to have a say in their childs eductaion. This is a good bill for parents across Alberta

Rea
To search the #bill44 hashtag, it's best to start with http://www.search.twitter.com


ED. NOTE: Thanks - we have now included a link with this story.

Donald K Munroe
Do we really need to go globally on Bill 44? The provincial government passed this bill, so lets move forward and get on with life!

If you disagree with Bill 44, you have two simple options - you can stay or leave the province of Alberta. Once government passes a bill, law or tax, there is no governmental back-tracking.

lol
Soo... this bill basically boils down to "parents should have the right to make sure their children receive less education than their peers", right? Makes perfect sense.

All are welcome here!
Wow, we've become a friendly lot huh?! Don't agree with our views, get out. I can see you're all going to be great moral role models for your children. Great job teaching tolerance!!

Tyrone & Yolanda
This is great news I hope your listening in Ontario Obama and Lindsay Blackett Alberta Minister are the future and its time we catch up to them.
Shame Shame on the Liberals in Ontario ignoring parental rights.

Josh student in Red Deer, Ab being creeped out
As a student I am a little creeped out by some of the people that don't have kids sticking their nose in our classroom. My your own business please. I feel the Teachers Union is not representing the teachers or the students or the parents they are representing an unelected party.

gord
Every generation gets smarter and wiser than the one before it, it's about time a law was passed to put a stop to this disturbing trend.

Concerned Canadian
Posters who continue to argue that it is the parents' right to school their child in sex, evolution, or racism miss an essential point: children are not things. They are not owned by their parents. There is no "right" to have your child become a carbon copy of you.
Never mind the nonsense about the "rights" of the parent. This discussion should really focus on the rights of the child: the right to be free of the parents' indoctrination and narrow mindedness.

dionewfie
The system has done such a fine job of raising children. We have so many school shootings, murders, assults, etc. done by our children lately that it is high time that parents take a role in what they want their children taught. To much has been left to the government, special interest groups and teachers to decide what kids are told is right and wrong. Lets hope parents will exercise their rights and learn what is being taught to their children maybe we can change society for the better. That way in the future we may not be called some kind of phobic because we disagree!!

mathieu warren
whomever said it was a parent right, a child should know what he or she wishes or not wishes to learn, he's the one who has to learn to grow to accept and love and courage people in society gosh and my ma and pa (sorry using fake albertan accent) always taught me to accept everyone as they accept me!

PJR
How embarassing! I hope people around the world are able to distinguish Alberta from the NON-reactionary-right-wing -freak normal provinces! What's next Alberta, no more teaching evolution in schools?

Doug BC
How convenient for those who want a separation of church and state. It's OK when it suits them, but they still think the state should make the decisions for every family in Canada.
In BC, the teachers is little more than a shill for the NDP. How can anything that partisan be considered "education".
I totally agree with "Chad in Edmonton". The government in Alberta should stand it's ground. What can be more fundamental to rights and freedoms than a families right to raise it's children in ways it feels represent their values?? This should be proper and legal everywhere in the world.
Trudeau once said that there is no room for the state in the bedrooms of the nation.I rarely agree with Trudeau,but he was right. And I believe thE state has no business in the affairs of a family.
Opposing ALberta on this is just another way of saying parents have no right to decide how to raise they families. All at a time when we encourage immigrants to "celebrate" the cultures of their birth nations.
"Tamara's" post may be politically correct. But it smacks of the nanny state mentality, and the right of big brother to intervene in the private lives of every citizen in the country.
Sorry Tamara. Alberta is doing nothing more than giving parents the right to choose "Tamara" suggested "if you don't want your children to learn certain things in school, school them yourself". Well, "Tamara",on the subjects at issue, that is exactly what parents are asking for.
Give me a break. "Concerned Canadian". Childern are not property. Not of the parents, but even more relevant,they are not the property of the state. Your post assumes that the big brother knows better than the parents.

Linda in Vancover
So let me see if I have this right. THe same people who've been whining and worrying that a Harper government would impose his Christian views into the debates of federal laws regarding abortion,or the death penalty, are now ready to impose the views of school boards on the families of Alberta.
UNBELIEVEABLE. And,only in Canada. Now who's the real dictator? I guess it all depends on whose ox is being gored. How anyone can oppose offering ALL parents more choice is beyond me.
If it's a "public" school system, the public should have some input. Parents and taxpayers are not there just to pay the bills. And, parents are not asking that any of these things not be taught in "public" schools. Only that they, the parents, be informed, and have the right to teach these issues in their own homes, and in accordance with their own beliefs. A very fundamental parental right.
If parents aren't the ones to influence what subjects are taught in schools, who is, the government. Are you kidding me??? Is it the teachers? You must be joking. Or will it be the special interest lobbyists with agendas of their own.
Honestly, it's about time someone spoke up to defend the right of people to make their own choices about their own families. That right should never be limited to those who can afford to send their children to private school.
Schools should be used to educate,not for social engineering by a coalition of special interest groups.
Alberta is 100% right to defend parental rights. Only a Liberal would object to more choice. I guess that offends some of their favourite lobby groups. I may not be a person of faith, but I will defend the rights of people to who are because it is the right thing to do.

Heather
Being a parent of young children who are not yet in school, I was happy to hear about Bill 44--knowing that my parental rights were being entrenched. I was happy until I began talking to some of the high school teachers in my area. Something that I did not know is that before this bill was passed parents still had the right to withhold their children from classes that they found inappropriate. All Bill 44 seems to accomplish is to enable parents to bring teachers before a Human Rights tribunal for teaching government 'approved' curriculum. Whether or not you agree with this curriculum is subjective, but is it right to make the teacher responsible for something they are asked to instruct? I think not!!

M
Concerned Canadian hit on a very valid point. What about kids who WANT to learn about these things, but their parents are against it. Where are their rights?
To everyone who says it isn't my business how kids are schooled, it very much is!! I pay taxes for your kids to go to school and as someone who has an invested interest, I want to see your kids educated properly.

@mariobourque
Cindy, you clearly have no idea what Twitter is about.

Concerned Canadian
And one more thing...

Has it occurred to the geniuses behind this legislation that the best way to pique a child's interest is to make something forbidden?

Once kids know that their parents don't want them asking questions about homosexuality, climate chgange, evolution or other religious beliefs, they'll be burning the midnight oil on google.

Nothing could induce kids, especially teenagers, to become interested in something as much as telling them it's not allowed.

Now if only we could forbid the parents from learning about global warming, Darwinism, and gay marriage, maybe we could start to make some real change...

Alberta Basher
Good! Now world can see Alberta as an REDNECK provincial... Alberta is an embrassement to Canada.

daryn
What kind of comment is this???

"If you are offended by the fact that they are sensitive issues, that's too bad," Blackett boomed at opposition members. "Those parents are whom we represent, three and a half million Albertans, not your little cabal, not your five little ridings or your nine little ridings or your special-interest groups."

What happenned to Majority rule Minority rights?
There should be a call to have this man fired. His comments are TOTALLY Innappropriate

kc in alberta
I don't know when it became great parenting to refuse to allow your children to even hear different points of view on controversial matters.

Let them hear what the rest of the world has to say and then discuss the matter with your children including an emphassis on your point of view.

Let them know why you believe what you do and why you feel it is important.

Answer their questions honestly and never frighten or punish them into agreeing with you.

It might take them a while to form their own opinions and whether they end up agreeing with some or all of your points of view this is the way it has to be when you are raising fully formed individuals capable of critical thinking.

That is far better parenting than deliberately preventing children from even hearing other ideas and acting as if doing so will taint their minds forever.

IT Manager from Edmonton
I asked my 16 year old niece who is online and opposed to Bill 44 why she feels that way. Her reply had nothing to do with the legislation, but rather how "stupid" it was for parents not to want to talk about gay marriage.

She completely missed the point of the legislation and when I explained how I felt as a parent and about protecting parental rights she thought that was reasonable, but she still thought the law should be changed even though she had not thought of my viewpoint and upon reflection agreed with it.

I gave her an example that was not based upon schools teaching about about something homosexual but rather something she did not personally agree with and her opinion was 180 degrees the opposite. She supported not being forced to learn about that subject becuase it was stupid.

See a pattern here people?

The point of this HRC change is to protect parental rights in an era where society is turning a blind eye to government curtailing our rights and freedoms in the name of being PC.

Likely soon the online fury will subside as people move onto more important topics like weather or not Megan Fox should or should not play Wonderwonam

GG
Twitter versus backwards thinking Alberta...no contest....I am sure Stelmach will love this ' publicity ' to go along his ridiculous $25M campaign to show the world that Alberta is ' progressive' on the oilsands front. Unfortunately Eddie the world will get to see the true regressive world you live in and will duly take note...for future investment, job creation and economic stimulus. Rule #1 never mix politics with religion.

Mike in Forest Lawn, AB
why is the media always talking about Twitter? there are many companies here in Calgary that are actually interesting not just someone to update their status or who their new mistress is.

Pat
Wow I am so glad I don't live in Alberta. Now Parents can teach there child racism without the government interfering. Making your child an outcast is not helping him. I just can't believe it.
To think that Canada used to be a country that you could be proud of...

Concerned Canadian
Linda in Vancouver: you seem to be misinformed on several essential points.

First, parents have always had the right to teach their children their own values. Nothing in this legislation either gives them that right or denies it. So when you argue that parents want the right to "be informed and have the right to teach these issues in their own homes" you are just arguing for something that they already have.

Second, taxpayers have always had the right to influence what is taught in school. I have served on numerous curriculum committees, and parents were always involved, as were school board members elected by those same parents.

In a democratic society, parents' input takes place through the elected officials, who are accountable to the public at the ballot box. If you don't like the curriculum, change the government, or run for school board.

Furthermore, your comparison between school boards and Mr. Harper imposing his views is misleading. In a secular society, we do not want anyone's personal religious views to be imposed on society as a whole. That's the kind of thing that caused the civil wars in England in the 1600's.

But school boards and ministries of education are not imposing religious views: they are opening the door to discussion of controversial issues so that young adults can learn to think critically.

And that's what some parents object to, if they're honest. They want the "right" to keep their children in ignorance of other perspectives, and cloak that desire behind loud protestations of their "rights".

What about the rights of their children to understand what other view are? What about the rights of their children to make up their own minds?

If parents demanded the "right" to prevent their children from learning mathematics, we'd call it child abuse.

What should we call this?

Galileo
Oh no, we can't let our children be exposed to the fact that women and gays have rights in our country, nor that other religions exist. What's next, teaching them that the earth is not at the centre of the solar system?

You&MeTogether
Alberta Basher - who really is the real redneck lacking tolerance??

Big Daddy
Don't you wonder why the educational establishment is so worried about this. It really makes me wonder exactly what they're teaching children. Teachers shouldn’t assume that because I don’t want THEM teaching my kids about sex (etc.) they’re somehow going to be taught the “wrong” things.

Freedom or Death
If you don't like freedom then don't live here. It really is that simple. Quit your whining when things don't go your way.