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Alberta’s Auditor General is raising important questions about the process used for building schools using a so called ‘public private partnership’ model instead of conventional financing.

Under a P3 model, schools are built and maintained by private owners and leased to school districts.  CUPE 3550 President Trudy Grebenstein says that model will add costs and reduce taxpayer control.  In a report released this week, the Auditor General called for a ‘value for money’ analysis of the P3 system.

I’m pleased to see the AG confirm that taxpayers are still important and that they deserve to see how their tax dollar is being spent on capital infrastructure projects such as public schools,” said Grebenstein.  “The first six Edmonton schools built by a public private partnership are opening this fall and there has been no public information to show the project is within original costs.”

The Auditor General says taxpayers still need to know if the processes the government uses to assess P3s demonstrate value for money.  How long do we wait for this information?”