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Shelley Svidal
The province’s new royalty framework was front and centre when the Alberta legislature reconvened November 5 for what is expected to be a 19-day fall sitting. Thrust, parry and riposte were the order of the day as opposition MLAs hammered the government for not collecting what they alleged were untold billions in royalty revenue over the last seven years.
While most issues took a back seat to resource royalties, MLAs did manage to raise the occasional question about education.
Rookie MLA Craig Cheffins (LIB—Calgary-Elbow) took up the sword November 8 when he asked Minister of Education Ron Liepert to explain why school boards had been underfunded for so long if, as Premier Ed Stelmach claimed, billions of royalty dollars were in the hands of Albertans. Cheffens didn’t get very far. "It hasn’t taken this member very long to figure out that that party will go to any length to fertilize the truth, to sink to the bottom of the lowest denominator when they come up with their questions," Liepert retorted.
David Eggen (NDP—Edmonton-Calder) got a little further less than half an hour later when he intimated that, while Albertans haven’t been receiving their fair share of resource royalties, teachers have been paying more than their fair share of pension contributions. Liepert responded by indicating that, for the last several months, government and Alberta Teachers’ Association officials had been working toward a resolution of the unfunded liability of the Teachers’ Pension Plan. "I am optimistic that negotiations and discussions are proceeding, maybe better than what one might have expected at this time," he said. He added that, on September 1, the government had reduced the pension contributions of all teachers by 3.1 per cent, giving them 3.1 per cent more in take-home pay.
Two days earlier, Harry Chase (LIB—Calgary-Varsity) asked Minister of Infrastructure and Transportation Luke Ouellette why the government had underfunded infrastructure maintenance until, in the words of the auditor general, public safety could be at risk. Ouellette replied that the government was working as fast as it could to address the backlog of deferred maintenance, an effort made difficult by a heated economy. Chase countered that more than 60 Calgary schools had leaky roofs, that ceilings were collapsing in some schools and that the deferred maintenance bill for Calgary school boards totalled $700 million. Ouellette questioned the source of Chase’s information. "We fund the school boards with maintenance dollars, and there are times when they don’t always put the dollars where they’re supposed to go," Ouellette said.
On November 7, Dave Rodney (PC—Calgary-Lougheed) used question period to elicit from Liepert an update on his June announcement that 18 new schools would be built in Calgary and Edmonton by the fall of 2010 through public–private partnerships (P3s). Liepert told the house that government officials had worked with the Calgary and Edmonton school boards over the summer to finalize agreements that would allow them to assume ownership of the schools. He added that the project team had issued a request for qualifications earlier that week with a deadline of November 29. Rodney asked Liepert what the government had done to ensure that the P3 model of school construction was in the best interests of Albertans. Liepert replied that an independent audit conducted over the summer had concluded that the P3 model was more cost-efficient and faster than the traditional model of school construction. Ray Martin (NDP—Edmonton-Beverly–Clareview) has filed a motion for return requesting a copy of the audit.
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