Feedback from Albertans

By Leela Sharon Aheer Chestermere-Strathmore MLA

It is always an honour and a privilege to listen to the folks of Chestermere-Strathmore. 

We have had many discussions regarding the new draft K-6 curriculum and you have helped us as your representatives respond with feedback from Albertans and education partners. This has seen an adjustment with the implementation timelines for the new curriculum and narrowing our focus to English, language arts and literature, mathematics and physical education and wellness for September 2022. Thank you to everyone who has written to our office and for your advocacy. As a result, we have established the Curriculum Implementation Advisory Group to provide advice and recommendations on the curriculum implementation strategy and timelines to ensure they are manageable for teachers and students. This group will also help determine how to successfully implement a new curriculum for the subjects above. This includes identifying potential support needed to implement the new curriculum in schools and options for providing these supports to school authorities. They will also provide advice and recommendations on how to pilot the remaining K-6 subjects beginning in September 2022 and provide strategies for implementing these subjects beginning in September 2023. Also, a huge thank you to our parents, students and teachers for all their work getting our students back to school. In-person learning for kids is important for their academic success and emotional well-being. It is imperative that we keep our schools open. We are also supplying another 16.4 million medical-grade masks to Alberta school authorities. We’ll continue this phased approach and in total, at the end of eight weeks, students and staff will have received about 65.6 million masks.

Booster doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to bolster immunity for those who are immunocompromised will be available. These recommendations come from the National Advisory Committee on Immunization and the Alberta Advisory Committee on Immunization. Individuals aged 18 and older who have specific immunocompromising conditions can receive a booster five months after receiving their third dose. Beginning January 20, eligible individuals can book appointments for fourth doses online with AHS and participating pharmacies by using the Alberta vaccine booking system or calling 811. 

I want to update our constituents on some changes for replacement license plates if your plate has been stolen or lost. These situations are very difficult for the owner. If used in criminal activity, there are even larger issues, so effective last week on Jan. 19, Alberta motorists must report lost or stolen license plates to police before requesting a replacement plate from registry agents. It helps with law enforcement and making sure your data is updated as soon as possible.  

Congratulations to the Wheatland County Food Bank, which received $383 thousand in full funding for their CFEP extensive grant application! I look forward to chatting with them about their great work in our community. 

As always, we love to hear from you!

(Leela Sharon Aheer is the MLA Elect for Chestermere-Strathmore)