Construction underway on controversial P3 schools in Alberta
Five new high schools in Alberta are on track to open to students in September 2024. The announcement was made on Thursday by Infrastructure Minister Prasad Panda at the future site of Ohpaho School in Leduc.
The five schools are being built under a Public Private Partnership or P3 model.
Concert-Bird Partners will design, finance, and build the schools. They will also maintain them for 30 years.
“Through this partnership, Alberta’s government is saving taxpayers $114.5 million to deliver much needed high schools in Blackfalds, Edmonton, Langdon, and Leduc,” Panda said Thursday.
But critics say the P3 model poses risks to Alberta students.
“Edmonton has massive issues with its P3 schools,” said Cam Heenan, NDP candidate for Leduc-Beaumont. “At Bessie Nichols School, the private contractor would not give school administration control of the thermostat on some of the coldest days of the year citing cost concerns.
"At Johnny Bright Elementary School, students were forced to walk through mud pits that could be as high as their knees because the contractor refused to address drainage issues” Heenan added.
“After this failed experiment, the PCs abandoned P3s.”
Back in 2014 Alberta’s then Progressive Conservative government sidelined a plan to build 19 new schools using the P3 model, saying it would be cheaper to build the schools themselves.
“The Alberta government can borrow cheaper than anybody, even a P3 proponent,” then Infrastructure Minister Wayne Drysdale said in 2014.
Panda is sticking by the model, and says the new schools will bring jobs and learning opportunities to the communities.
“Long after the construction is complete, these new high schools will ensure ongoing community based jobs in programming, operations, and maintenance,” he said.
“These state of the art learning facilities will ensure thousands upon thousands of future high school students have the modern schools they need in which to learn, grow, and succeed.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Bodies found by U.S. authorities searching for missing B.C. kayakers
United States authorities who have been searching for a pair of missing kayakers from British Columbia since the weekend have recovered two bodies in the nearby San Juan Islands of Washington state.
Amid concerns over 'collateral damage' Trudeau, Freeland defend capital gains tax change
Facing pushback from physicians and businesspeople over the coming increase to the capital gains inclusion rate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his deputy Chrystia Freeland are standing by their plan to target Canada's highest earners.
'It's discriminatory': Individuals refused entry to Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
Individuals being barred from entering Ontario’s legislature while wearing a keffiyeh say the garment is part of their cultural identity— and the only ones making it political are the politicians banning it.
Tom Mulcair: Park littered with trash after 'pilot project' is perfect symbol of Trudeau governance
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
Saskatchewan households will continue to receive carbon tax rebate: Trudeau
Households in Saskatchewan will continue to receive Canada Carbon Rebate payments, despite the province refusing to remit natural gas levies to the federal government, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday.
'It's just so hard to let it go': Umar Zameer still haunted by death of Toronto police officer
'We hoped for this day, but we were scared that it would not never ever come because it took so long.' That’s what Umar Zameer, the man recently acquitted in the death of a Toronto police officer, told CTV News Toronto in a sit-down interview on Tuesday.
Senate expenses climbed to $7.2 million in 2023, up nearly 30%
Senators in Canada claimed $7.2 million in expenses in 2023, a nearly 30 per cent increase over the previous year.
Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko won't play in Game 2
The Vancouver Canucks will be without all-star goalie Thatcher Demko when they face the Nashville Predators in Game 2 of their first-round playoff series.
Pedestrian, baby injured after stroller struck and dragged by vehicle in Squamish, B.C.
Police say a baby and a pedestrian suffered non-life-threatening injuries after a vehicle struck a baby stroller and dragged it for two blocks before stopping in Squamish, B.C.