WTF is Going on in Alberta

I am sad to say that progressive idiocy has infected Canada’s paradise, Alberta.  Alberta’s new premier, Alison Redford, who promised to put the “progressive” back in “Progressive Conservative,” has got to go before Alberta descends into the progressive nightmare that the rest of Canada (except for maybe Saskatchewan) has become.  The provincial government is now dictating what homeschooling parents can and cannot teach their children (and this goes way beyond basic curriculum requirements) (hat tip Moonbattery):

Homeschooling families will soon be forbidden from teaching that homosexual sex is sinful as part of their schooling program, according to the government of Alberta, Canada.

Under the province’s Education Act, homeschoolers and religious schools will be banned from “disrespecting” people’s differences, Alberta Education Minister Thomas Lukaszuk’s office told LifeSiteNews just last week.

“Whatever the nature of schooling – homeschool, private school, Catholic school – we do not tolerate disrespect for differences,” said Donna McColl, Lukaszuk’s assistant director of communications. “You can affirm the family’s ideology in your family life, you just can’t do it as part of your educational study and instruction.”

I’m speechless.  This is approaching fascism; “disrespect for differences” is now a crime (a thought crime).  My impression that Canada protected the freedom of speech was destroyed long ago, but this is just ridiculous.  And in Alberta of all places.  And that last sentence is just bull; what on Earth difference does it make whether or not ideology is part of the homeschooling?  Thankfully, some Canadians are still sane:

Paul Faris, president of the Home School Legal Defence Association of Canada, told the news website the Ministry of Education is “clearly signaling that they are in fact planning to violate the private conversations families have in their own homes. A government that seeks that sort of control over our personal lives should be feared and opposed.”

…

“The long arm of the government wants to reach into family’s homes and control what they teach to their own children in their own homes about religion, sexuality and morality,” Faris said. “These are not the words of a government that is friendly to homeschooling or to parental freedom.”

LifeSiteNews noted that the Progressive Conservative government has 67 of the 83 seats in the Alberta Legislature, so the bill is almost certain to pass. However, with an election coming up, the new right-wing Wildrose Alliance Party may have a strong showing.

And this comes shortly after Alberta’s 2012 budget, complete with plentiful spending increases, was announced.  I am hoping Albertans won’t tolerate this crap when it comes to the next election (fortunately, Redford was elected in a special election open only to party members (which included liberals who joined just to vote for her) after the former premier resigned, and not a general election).