Responding to Alberta Government's Defence of Public Library Takeover
Below I am responding to each paragraph of Alberta MLA Nate Glubish’s letter to a constituent publicly defending Government Bill 28 that authorizes provincial takeover of Alberta public libraries.
Nate Glubish (NG): Thank you for writing to me about Bill 28, the Municipal Affairs and Housing Statutes Amendment Act, 2026. I appreciate you taking the time to share your concerns, and I want to respond with a full explanation of what the bill contains and the reasoning behind it.
James L. Turk (JT): Nice misleading title “Municipal Affairs and Housing Statutes Amendment Act, 2026” for a bill that allows the Minister of Municipal Affairs to override any decision or policy by any local library board in the province as well as any decision by the professional librarians who staff those libraries.
NG: Some constituents have written to say this bill amounts to censorship. The specifics of the bill tell a different story. No books are being banned. No authors are being targeted. No titles are being removed from any library. Every title that sits on a library shelf today will still sit on a library shelf after these changes take effect.
JT: True, but the Minister can at any time order any book containing content of which he doesn’t approve to be put behind the desk so no one can find it on a shelf nor borrow it easily. In the everyday world that is called “censorship.”
NG: Adults will continue to have full access to every part of the collection. The only change is that a specific and narrow category of material, items with explicit visual depictions of sexual acts, will be physically separated and accessible through library staff rather than sitting on open shelves.
JT: The legislation says not a word about material with explicit visual depictions of sexual acts. It says the Minister has the authority to order any library to do anything he considers appropriate. Today, he wants to restrict access to explicit visual depictions of sexual acts. Tomorrow he could decide to target children’s books about gay and lesbian families, or books that blame our climate crisis on fossil fuel extraction.
NG: This is about how a small set of materials is accessed. It does not change what libraries carry.
JT: This is about a what you deem a small set of materials until the Minister exercises his unrestricted authority to make it about a larger set of materials at any time he wishes.
NG: I agree that parents are the ones who should decide what is appropriate for their children. That is exactly what Bill 28 supports.
JT: Every public library agrees parents or guardians have supervisory responsibility for their children.
NG: Right now, a child can walk into a public library, pull a book containing graphic visual depictions of sexual acts off an open shelf, and take it home without a parent ever knowing. Bill 28 changes that. It makes sure parents are part of the decision when it comes to their child accessing this specific category of material.
JT: Right now, every child with access to a smart phone can sign into PornHub – a dramatically more serious problem that your government chooses to ignore in its attack on public libraries. In the ten years between 2017 and today, only 80 concerns about books for children or youth have been registered with public libraries in Alberta. A startling indication there is not a problem, given 1,351,621 Albertans have library cards.
NG: Parents who are comfortable with their child accessing these materials can give permission. Parents who are not will have the confidence of knowing their child cannot access them without that permission. Either way, the parent decides.
JT: Given there have been only 80 challenges to books for children and youth in a decade, parents are pretty comfortable with the policies and practices of their local library boards and staff.
NG: Local library boards will continue to make decisions about their collections and their programming. Nothing in Bill 28 removes a library board's authority to choose which titles to purchase, which programs to offer, or how to serve their community.
JT: Not true. Bill 28 gives unilateral authority to the Minister of Municipal Affairs to override any local board policy or public library decision relating to the management, administration or operation of a public library.
NG: What Bill 28 does is establish a consistent, province-wide standard for how children access explicit visual material across public libraries. Bringing consistency to a system that serves children in every community is a legitimate role for the provincial government, and it is the same approach that already applies to our schools.
JT: What Bill 28 does, to quote from the Bill, is to give whoever is the Minister of Municipal Affairs the right “to make any order the Minister considers appropriate.” [Section 9(1)(4)(7)]
NG: I understand the request for a pause. Our government has considered the question carefully and has concluded that moving forward is the right thing to do. The protections that exist for children in school libraries should exist for children in public libraries as well.
JT: This is the heart of the matter. Regardless of what Albertans think, your Government has decided what is right and will impose your Government’s will on Albertans – displacing decisions made by local library boards responsive to their communities.
NB: Thank you again for writing. Your feedback has been shared with the Minister of Municipal Affairs, the Honourable Dan Williams, whose ministry is leading this work.
Sincerely,
Hon. Nate Glubish
MLA for Strathcona-Sherwood Park
Minister of Technology & Innovation
