The Alberta NDP made a school-related announcement Tuesday in Red Deer. Pictured speaking is party leader Rachel Notley, flanked by Jaelene Tweedle (left) and Michelle Baer, candidates in Red Deer-North and Red Deer-South, respectively. (rdnewsNOW/Josh Hall)

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

early days of election campaign heating up

NDP make Red Deer schools announcement, slam Premier for health care comments

Apr 25, 2023 | 2:02 PM

The Alberta NDP have announced the first two new schools they would build in Red Deer, if elected come the provincial election this May.

They include a public junior school in Timberlands, and a K-5 Catholic school, location to be determined. Both of these schools were identified in each division’s capital priority lists, which all school divisions must submit to the province by March 31.

“Public education in Alberta is struggling. We need funding to get shovels in the ground and build schools,” said Jaelene Tweedle, Alberta NDP candidate for Red Deer-North, who shared the announcement alongside Red Deer-South candidate Michelle Baer and NDP Leader Rachel Notley behind Annie L. Gaetz Elementary on Tuesday.

“Families in Red Deer want real change, and the Alberta NDP is ready to deliver.”

Baer added, “Not only are we short over 2,000 teachers, but we don’t have nearly enough support staff to help our students succeed.”

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“Red Deer is a young community, a fast-growing one, and at the doors, we’ve heard concerns from parents about education, and we’ve heard from teachers that they are really struggling. It’s not just new schools that are important, it’s [addressing] the cuts they’ve sustained to supports in the classroom, and kids are suffering.”

Notley pointed out the roughly 240 new school and modernization projects they undertook during their time in government from 2015-2019.

She couldn’t share dollar amounts for the two school projects, but said a formal platform commitment outlining capital ambitions and a plan to hire more teachers and support staff, will be revealed in the coming week.

“We’re falling behind again. Danielle Smith’s first budget made a smoke-and-mirrors commitment to fund a pre-planning study for a middle school here in Red Deer, to be built at an unspecified later date,” said Notley.

“To be clear, pre-planning is a brand new UCP pre-election funding category. In other words, it’s made up. For the record, we don’t need pre-planning funding to draw pictures of schools, we need funding to get shovels in the ground and build them.”

The UCP government said in late February, when Budget 2023 was unveiled, that the funding for a Red Deer Public-operated school in the northeast would assist with developing scope options, programming priorities, and activities such as community engagement for conceptual projects.

The province also said that its planning programs would allow for further development of project scope and site investigation work, help to clarify potential risks and identify mitigating strategies and costs, and ultimately reduce costs and schedule delays.

Notley says the NDP looks forward to engaging with school boards across the province to further identify priorities for infrastructure.

HEALTH CARE

Notley also took the opportunity to further slam Premier Danielle Smith for refusing to disavow past comments she’s made about whether or not Albertans really need a doctor’s visit to be free.

“Stories have surfaced in the media that Danielle Smith has refused four times in the last nine days to disavow a policy position she developed and promoted as recently as 18 months ago, in which she advocated Albertans pay to see a family doctor,” said Notley.

“I think she refuses to do that because she truly believes this is the best path forward. She wants to dismantle public health care.”

The former premier added that it’s ridiculous for Albertans to trust Premier Smith on this matter simply because she signed a cardboard guarantee, referring to a promise Smith made a couple weeks ago.

“Under this public health care guarantee, the UCP is committed to all Albertans that under no circumstances will any Albertans ever have to pay out of pocket for access to their family doctor or to get the medical treatment they need,” said Smith in early April.

She also vowed no prescription medications already covered would be delisted.

On Monday, Smith was asked once again where she stands philosophically on Albertans paying out of pocket. She pointed to a long-term health funding deal the province has with Ottawa.

“I believe actions speak louder than anything. One of the first things I’ve done as premier is sign a 10-year, $24-billion health-care agreement with the federal government, where we jointly agree to uphold the principles of the Canada Health Act,” said Smith.

“One of those main principles is no one pays out-of-pocket for a family doctor, and no one pays for hospital services. That’s in writing.”

The reporter who asked the question was not permitted a follow-up to challenge Smith’s response, or lack thereof, to the original question’s focal point.

READ MORE: Smith declines to disavow comments urging out-of-pocket payments for health care

“There’s only one piece of paper that will protect public health care from Danielle Smith,” Notley concluded on Tuesday. “And that’s your ballot.”

Meantime, Red Deer-North UCP candidate Adriana LaGrange released the following statement in response:

“The NDP are campaigning on building new schools with NO planning work done, NO design work done, NO official engagement with school authorities, and in many cases NO physical sites selected.

“Alberta’s government has announced 106 school projects since 2019 – this includes 58 projects this year. Some of those projects are still in the pre-planning, planning, or design phase. That’s because we’re being prudent with taxpayer dollars and responsible in our approach.

“Red Deer Public and Red Deer Catholic both received their top priorities over the last four years, including receiving funding for St. Lorenzo Ruiz middle school for Red Deer Catholic and Hunting Hills major modernization for Red Deer Public. Additionally, Red Deer Catholic received funding for a new K-5 school in Blackfalds.

“While the NDP may be making campaign announcements in a last-ditch effort to win seats in this election – we’ve made actual commitments through Budget 2023 and the School Capital Plan to move projects forward including a new northeast middle school for Red Deer Public.

“We made these decisions using the gated, Auditor General-approved process, and we’ll continue to make data-informed decisions based on the needs of our communities – not based on which candidates we’d like to see elected.”

(with files from The Canadian Press)