Tories pave the way for P3s in Throne Speech

Scott Harris, AFL Staff

The Alberta Government began the spring session of the Legislature by opening the door to expanded privatization and ignoring a host of problems faced by Albertans.

In the February 18 Speech from the Throne, delivered by Lieutenant Governor Lois Hole, the Klein government indicated it will press ahead with public-private partnerships (P3s) for provincial infrastructure projects in the spring session.

Critics question why the government is moving ahead with such arrangements, which could include everything from construction of hospitals and schools to roads, despite indications from other jurisdictions which show P3s are often more expensive.

"Over the past few months, the Klein government has been presented with compelling and conclusive evidence showing that so-called public-private partnerships don’t work," says Les Steel, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour.

"Yet, with this Throne Speech, they have committed themselves to pushing ahead with these schemes. The big question is: why are they ignoring the evidence?"

The government also identified primary and post-secondary education as a priority in its overall focus on what they call "our promise to children."

However, New Democrat leader Raj Pannu says children and schools need more than lip-service and vague promises.

"The Tories have no plan or vision for education. They lurch from one hot spot to another trying to put out fires by dousing them with gasoline."

Pannu noted that the Alberta Schools Boards Association referred to the $142 million funding gap facing school boards as "a chasm that students across the province will fall into if the government doesn’t foot the bill."

"The ASBA has told us that without proper provincial funding ‘every board in this province will hit the wall – and we are talking cuts to teaching staff, ballooning class sizes – and potentially school closures.’"

Steel says the real reason the government is under-funding education is to punish the teachers – who recently managed to win a long-overdue wage increase.

"The Tories talk a good game when it comes to education," says Steel. "They say our teachers are valuable and that more needs to be done to attract and retain them. But inside, members of the government caucus are seething. They’re not used to anyone standing up to them – and that’s exactly what the teachers did. So what we’re seeing now is retaliation. They want the public to blame "greedy teachers" for deteriorating standards in our schools."

In the Throne Speech, the province also indicated it will continue to oppose implementation of the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, saying it will "move ahead with a made-in-Alberta plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions."

Steel questions how the government can justify excluding workers from the process.

"The federal government has given working people a seat at the table when it comes to planning Kyoto implementation. But at the provincial level, there has been no such commitment – and no plan to ease the transition for workers impacted by climate change policies."