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Q: How likely is that?

A: The Alberta Human Rights Act has been used in the past to target Christians with beliefs about homosexuality, said Paul van den Bosch, a Catholic homeschooler parent of seven in Red Deer who sits on the board of Alberta Home Education Association, which held two rallies this month at the legislature, including one this week. “I don’t want to give bureaucrats any ideas, but it would be very easy for them to require standardized testing that is in line with human rights acts, which means freedom of thought, freedom of conscience, freedom of expression, freedom of religion is undermined and the government’s religion, if you will, which is the human rights act, takes precedence,” he said.

Q: The writ for a provincial election will drop in less than a week. Surely that has something to do with all this.

A: This is definitely going to be an election issue, said Wildrose House leader and education critic Rob Anderson. “The PCs have failed to listen to Albertans on this issue,” he said, adding that his party supports passage of the act since it has many good qualities, but promise — if elected — to return the act to its original language, which says nothing about sweeping human rights. “There are conflicts between people’s personal beliefs and the interpretation of the Charter of Rights,” he said. “What we’re saying is, let’s let those parents teach their children according to their personal beliefs.”

University of Alberta political scientist John Church says Wildrose has indeed been “chipping away on the conservative perspective on the far right which encompasses libertarians [who value] personal freedom.” A number of issues have lately played on that same theme — MLAs being paid for committee work that wasn’t actually happening, the legislation that gives powers to municipalities to call a state of emergency; a situation where residents’ rights would temporarily disappear so emergency workers could do their job. “It’s created an opportunity for the Wildrose Party to make some political hay,” he said. “They’ll be working really hard at that.”