Prentice pledges new schools but won’t commit to timeline
Progressive Conservative leadership candidate Jim Prentice says if he becomes premier, building new schools would be his first priority, but he won’t commit to a timeline for their opening.
In a speech last month, Prentice pledged to build between 40 and 50 new schools on top of the Alberta government’s existing promise to build 50 and modernize 70 more.
Race rivals Thomas Lukaszuk and Ric McIver quickly panned the idea as not being rooted in fact. In an interview this week, Prentice said he knows the need exists, but won’t attach “arbitrary” timelines to the promise.
“These are not numbers I’ve pulled out of the air ... and I think when people bear down on the numbers, they’ll find that I’m absolutely right,” Prentice said. “I’ve been careful that I’ve not tossed out arbitrary timelines within which this could be done. I know that the capacity of the construction industry to build facilities on top of everything else is part of the challenge that we face.”
The former federal cabinet minister and perceived front-runner in the race to lead the governing Tories, Prentice said he would alter the province’s capital plan on a five-year basis to keep new schools at the top of the list.
“We need to build these facilities, get caught up over five years. Then we need to pay for them ... over 15 years,” he said, adding that it’s not feasible to wait to accumulate the cash necessary to pay for infrastructure.
He said that schools should be bundled in smaller groups for bidding or even tendered individually, to allow more companies to participate.
The promise to build 50 new schools and upgrade 70 more across the province was a cornerstone of former premier Alison Redford’s 2012 election campaign, but with none open yet, critics have called the pledge hollow.
A recent announcement that a group of 19 schools won’t be ready until at least 2017 — a year later than originally planned — has only
These are not numbers I’ve pulled out of the air PC LEADERSHIP CANDIDATE JIM PRENTICE
deepened that criticism as classrooms around the province burst at the seams and students spend more time on buses.
None of the schools in the existing pledge is under construction yet, but a spokeswoman for the province said work is ongoing at three sites.
Both McIver and Lukaszuk said they would also bundle schools in smaller groups, but dismissed Prentice’s pledge. Neither would say how many more schools they believe the province needs.
“The right number of schools might be 100. It might be 30. I would actually get my facts together before I made blanket promises like this,” McIver said.
“Find out what the need is, find out what resources are available and then match them up in the best way.”
Lukaszuk said any number provided by a candidate in campaign mode is “a number picked out of a hat,” that doesn’t reflect current and future capital needs.
“The second thing is ... every time you move a school up on your list of priorities, you’re moving another one down that very same list,” Lukaszuk said.
He said he is committed to working with school boards and industry partners to ensure schools are built to meet ongoing needs.
Mark Ramsankar, president of the Alberta Teachers’ Association, said the need doesn’t end with the opening of a new school.
“If you’re building 40 new schools, are you going to hire people to actually work in those schools? That becomes part of the question,” he said.
With no shovels in the ground for the province’s existing school pledge and no fixed timelines attached to Prentice’s promise, Ramsankar said the current overcrowding must be addressed.
“There’s a reluctance to hire and I think we need to look at hiring more individuals to keep up with the demand,” he said.