Wildrose candidate Sheila Taylor vows support for gay-straight alliances

The Wildrose candidate in Calgary-West says she supports gay-straight alliances in Alberta schools.

Public school board trustee Sheila Taylor announcedshe will run for Wildrose in the upcoming byelection in Calgary West on Wednesday.

• Gay-straight alliance motion defeated in Alberta Legislature
• Sheila Taylor to run for Wildrose in Calgary-West byelection

In April,Wildrose MLAs joined their Tory counterparts in defeating a motion that called for legislation to support students in establishing gay-straight alliances in schools.

The alliances are student-run organizations where LGBT and straight students work together to combat homophobia.

If she wins a seat, Taylor said she will push the government to do everything it can to protect gay and lesbian students including a new motion on gay-straight alliances.

I would have voted for that. I would have voted in favour of that motion but recognize as well there were concerns around the lack of public consultation before that came forward, she said.

There were very few stakeholders that were engaged and I think that was a very important step that was missed.

Taylor hopes totakean unpaid leave of absence from the school board while she makes her bid for the Alberta Legislature.

Education announcement

Education critic Bruce McAllisterand Tayloralso outlined the opposition's plan for Alberta schoolsThursday.

Taylor said the Wildrose would commit $2 billion tobuilding and maintaining new schools over four years if elected.

The party also vowed toopen up the construction bidding process.

McAllister says the PC'spractice of bundling school projects together and looking at P3 projects has meant major delays for new school construction.

"Demand for schools in Alberta has never been higher and it's only going to grow," he said. "We are committed to this demand enough talking the talk, it's time to walk the walk."

Taylor says it's something she would push for if elected in the Oct. 27 byelection.

"It'll make a big difference in terms of allowing the process to be more flexible, more responsive to local market conditions, and then I think as well there are a lot of opportunitiesfor this government for a better government under theWildroseto work more effectively with their municipalities to speed these processes up," she said.

The PC candidate for Calgary-West is Mike Ellis and the NDP candidate is Brian Malkinson. The Liberals have not declared a candidate.