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Eggen put the blame on past Conservative governments that, he said, did not allow school construction to keep pace with Alberta’s growing population. Eggen also suggested former governments hesitated to build during economic downturns.

“In a way, an economic downturn is not a bad time to be engaged in capital projects … We can probably get better contracts and better deals with the construction industry and from the banks,” he said.

The PC’s five-year construction plan did not allocate the money needed to keep school construction on track, Eggen said. In the summer, he asked the Treasury Board to earmark $310 million over the next two years to keep the work moving.

McIver noted the provincial government in recent years had to deal with massive migration to Alberta.

“I think we were dealing with the population boom and we were behind in construction. In government, you need to do your best to keep up with the population changes, but each school is a major investment … When we were in government, we tried to balance those two very important priorities.”

But he denied his party put off construction when the economy slowed.

“What you also have to balance is when you have money and when is the right time to spend it. I know the current people who are in government used to suggest all the time from across the aisle that it was easy when, in fact, it is not,” McIver said.

“The one thing the current government is trying to do to catch up is ruining the economy so that less people will come here and there will be less pressure to build schools. But I would suggest that is the wrong way to solve the problem.”