Manmeet Bhullar says schools on track despite poor economy

Alberta’s infrastructure minister says despite tough economic times, the schools promised last fall will go ahead.

“School projects are critically important for us," said Manmeet Bhullar. "Alberta is growing very quickly we have a large number of children entering our school system and we want to make it better for our children.”  

Bhullar’s optimistic update came just a day before the start of the spring session of the legislature.

Timing that is suspect to Alberta’s opposition parties.

“Clearly this government has the intention of trying to play politics by announcing new schools first, trying to win votes second and then somewhere down the road maybe they’ll build a school,” said NDP MLA David Eggen. 

“It’s disappointing, it should be disappointing for children and parents that are looking forward to going to these schools,” said interim Wildrose party leader, Heather Forsythe who criticized Bhullar for not living up to promises made by previous Tory governments. 

During the news conference, Bhullar came under fire for failing to build new schools more quickly.

He defended the government’s progress on schools saying permitting and the planning and design stage can be time consuming.

Bhullar said public private partnerships or P3s will not be used to build the schools currently being planned as it would slow down construction.

“Time has really been our driving factor on this, we wanted  to make sure we got these schools built as soon as possible,” Bhullar said.