Members of the Alberta Government say they were hoping to put an end to the teachers’ strike.

Premier Danielle Smith, Finance Minister Nate Horner, and Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides issued a joint statement Friday afternoon after the Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA) rejected their offer to enter enhanced mediation.

Those in the government say that this process would have ensured that students returned to their classrooms on Monday, Oct. 20, while negotiations continued alongside a third-party mediator.

“We are very disappointed that the Alberta Teachers’ Association refused this offer. Teachers and students should also be disappointed,” says Smith, Horner and Nicolaides.

The province’s 51,000 teachers have been on strike since Oct. 6, impacting more than 74,000 K-12 studen

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