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If we could build five schools for the cost of four, any responsible government would do it.

That is exactly what the Manitoba government decided in its 2018 budget, which rejected the public-private partnership (P3) model to build schools. Manitoba reviewed the evidence and found that for the price of $100 million, it could build five schools the traditional way, instead of four P3 schools.

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It makes one wonder why our financially challenged Saskatchewan Party government chose the more expensive P3 model to build and maintain 18 schools and other P3 projects.

Our government keeps saying that P3 schools save money, but where is the evidence? We are paying $635 million for 18 P3 schools, or an average $35.3 million per school. There are, on average, 616.7 students per P3 school.

Manitoba will build five schools for $100 million, or an average of $20 million per school. The five schools will have the capacity for 3,300 students, or an average of 660 students per school.