Redford defends new borrowing strategy

The province's new borrowing strategy wasn't mentioned during the spring election because it wasn't part of the government's plan at the time, Premier Alison Redford said on Thursday.

The government recently announced that it would start borrowing to finance long-term projects like the twinning of Highway 63.

But opposition parties said that Albertans should have been told about the strategy before they went to the polls in April.

"It's not something that we talked about during the campaign because that wasn't the fiscal reality during the campaign," Redford said.

"I think that you've clearly seen through our first quarter update and what's going on in the world that the world has changed. That's what happened."

Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith said her party raised red flags about the province's finances when the budget was unveiled in February because the numbers seemed unrealistic.

"Now reality is setting in for them but it was a reality that I think they knew going into the election," she said.

Smith believes the government should cut spending instead of putting Alberta back into debt.

But Redford says that Albertans want the province to keep building roads, schools and hospitals.