Alberta Education Minister Jeff Johnson reacts to loss of confidence vote

Alberta's education minister says he'll stay the coursedespite a loss of confidence vote from the teachers' union.

Over the weekend, the Alberta Teachers' Association (ATA)voted unanimously to saythey have lost confidence in the minister.

• Alberta teachers pass no confidence vote against Education Minister
• Task force recommendations draw mixed reactions from teachers, parents

The backlash follows a recent report from a provincial task force on education. Among the recommendations isa proposal to evaluate teachers every five years and having the province take that responsibility away from the ATA.

Speaking to CBC's Mark Connolly onEdmonton AM Tuesday morning, Jeff Johnson said he has heard the union's message.

Theyre there to represent their members, theyre there to represent their organization. Im here to represent students," he said.

"And theres going to be some days that we disagree. I cant apologize for that, but I will be as respectful as I can and work through those issues with them. Thats the commitment Ive made to them.

ATA president Mark Ramsankaris taking exception to Johnson's remarks.

"For anybody to suggest that teachers in this province are in this for self interest, that's ludicrous," he said.

Johnson said he spoke to teachers before their vote and tried to reassure them that the province won't rush to implement any of the recommendations

"We tried to deliver some reassurance for them that we won't rush to implement these recommendations from this independent report, but we do have some issues we have to work through and we can't ignore those."

The province will collect feedback from the public, the ATA and other provincial school boards over the next few months.

Listen to Johnson's full interview: