Dr. Swann: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. In the last couple of weeks we’ve seen the Tories lobby for undermining the Auditor General. 

We’ve seen them attempt to neuter Public Accounts, one of the most important legislative committees that exists. This committee is by definition to provide a public account of the spending and actions of the government of Alberta. Reporters, columnists, and bloggers across the province wrote over the weekend that Alberta is facing a, quote, doomsday because of this decision to neuter the opposition chair of Public Accounts.

To the Acting Premier: does the Premier support the decision to allow the vice-chair the ability to veto all correspondence by the chair of Public Accounts?

Mr. Horner: Well, Mr. Speaker, the Premier neither supports nor doesn’t support decisions that are made by a committee of this Legislature because it is a committee of this Legislature that reports to this Legislature. I’m sure they will have more discourse over that in the future.

Dr. Swann: Well, it’s very hard to believe that such a major draconian decision wasn’t in the apparent awareness of the Premier. Again to the Acting Premier: does the Premier honestly expect the opposition and the public to believe this?

Mr. Horner: Well, again, Mr. Speaker, the committee meets. It has a chair; it has a vice-chair; it has members of all parties. They are open to discuss a number of issues. The Premier isn’t briefed nor does he brief the chair before those meetings happen.

Dr. Swann: Well, Mr. Speaker, does the Acting Premier agree that it was proper for government members to do this, to, in the words of the Government House Leader, quote, slap the wrists, end quote, of the chair of Public Accounts?

Mr. Horner: Mr. Speaker, there was no attempt, in my view, and not being a member of that committee, it’s difficult for me to give my opinion as to whether or not I agree with the decision of that committee. I’m sure that that committee had very strenuous debate about the motion that was put before them. In fact, I’m sure that it was written in Hansard, as the hon. member rightly knows, and I’m sure that they will probably have further discussion about a number of issues that that committee is responsible for.

The Speaker: Second Official Opposition main question. The hon. Leader of the Official Opposition.

Education Funding

Dr. Swann: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. This government constantly boasts about how much better off Alberta is in weathering the recession while refusing to honour teacher contracts, repair aging schools, or adequately support special-needs education. To the Minister of Education: if this government isn’t willing to carry out its educational obligations such as bargaining in good faith with our teachers, will you at least provide greater autonomy to locally elected schools boards so that they can provide for their needs?

Mr. Hancock: Mr. Speaker, I don’t know where this hon. member has been, but we have not breached any contracts. We have not breached anything in faith with the school boards or the teachers in the province. In fact, we’ve totally honoured the contracts. What we haven’t done this year is budgeted for a 3 per cent increase to the school boards’ budgets, and I’ve done that in the context of talking with school boards about how we work on a longer term plan to deal with the pressures faced by school boards in meeting their negotiated obligations as well as looking at how we better utilize the resources within the system.

The Speaker: The hon. leader.

Dr. Swann: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With the combined Calgary school board infrastructure debt now exceeding a billion dollars, why is the minister not taking advantage of the reduced labour and material costs by investing a portion of the multibillion-dollar sustainability fund to correct a decade of government neglect?

Mr. Hancock: Mr. Speaker, as the hon. member will well know, you can only spend the sustainability fund once. You can’t spend it over and over again on every single priority he wants to bring forward. I would be the first to argue that school infrastructure is an important priority for us. We’ve moved forward on the alternative procurement program 1, where schools are going to be available even earlier than was anticipated and available for opening this fall in both Calgary and Edmonton, nine schools in each jurisdiction. That’s pretty good. ASAP 2 is progressing towards a very quick announcement, indicating we’ve made good use of resources, a good use of the public purse in putting schools where we need them.

The Speaker: The hon. leader.

Dr. Swann: Thanks, Mr. Speaker. Given that our most vulnerable students are those with special needs, why is this government fostering greater uncertainty by freezing their per-pupil funding grants and recklessly abandoning a coding system for special-needs children?

Mr. Hancock: Mr. Speaker, the hon. member should go back and read the good report that was done by a task force chaired by the Member for Edmonton-Ellerslie, which clearly sets out a change in direction that’s needed with respect to how we assure that every child in Alberta is included in the education system and that every child in Alberta has the opportunity to maximize their own personal potential. That takes some work to move. Some people would move it ahead of that process, but this is not an easy process. It’s going to take time. It’s going to take some work to implement. It doesn’t behoove anybody to jump ahead of the process, to talk about removing coding or making changes, those sorts of things. Funding is, of course, important, and funding is being provided.

Alberta Hansard, April 19, 2010

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