EDMONTON — Education Minister Dave Hancock unilaterally ended wage-freeze talks with Alberta teachers at an emergency meeting early Friday morning, education officials say.

Representatives of teachers and school boards were informed of the meeting late Thursday afternoon, around the same time Finance Minister Ted Morton announced he would step down as finance minister, and two days after Premier Ed Stelmach announced he would not run in the next election.

“The minister called an emergency meeting this morning in his office,” Alberta Teacher’s Association president Carol Henderson said. “He was there, with the deputy minister, and he just said he would have to end the talks.

“We aren’t sure why. We assume it had something to do with the premier’s resignation. He gave no other reason.”

The Alberta government had asked teachers to give up a planned 4.3 per cent pay increase in favour of a wage freeze, partly because the province is facing tough economic times.

In exchange, teachers would get new limits on the amount of time the spend teaching, so they could have more time for lesson preparation and professional development.

From the government’s perspective, the deal would put off bargaining, defer salary increases and help Hancock usher in transformational changes that he has talked about.

In a joint statement issued after the meeting, the teacher’s union, the Alberta School Boards Association and the government said that they “will not be moving ahead with an agreement at this time.”

“We recognize that transformation of the education system is critical to student success and requires continuing discussions among school boards, teachers and government,” the statement said. “We will seek further opportunities to work together in the future.”

At a press conference late Friday afternoon Hancock said the sudden, unilateral decision to end the talks had nothing to do with Morton’s resignation.

“I thought this was a very good agreement, and a very good way forward,” he said.

“I wasn’t able to convince my colleagues that these provisions were not only good for this year but for the (remainder) of the contract and the future.”

He said the other members of the Treasury Board, who make decisions about the budget, needed more certainty.

“It was government, in particular Treasury Board, that sent me back (to end talks).”

Hancock also confirmed for the first time he is considering a run for the Tory leadership.

Alberta School Boards Association president Jacquie Hansen says she believes there are “fiscal realities at play.”

“I don’t think it is any surprise that the budget is coming down, and we may be looking at a tight year,” she said.

“When agreements come through you want assurance from the premier that things are going to be funded, and there is uncertainty at the provincial level with the premier stepping down.”

As it stands, she said, teachers will be getting their salary increase and boards will have to budget accordingly.

“We are going to have to pay the teachers their salaries, and we are going to have to look at our programs,” she said.

“Every school board is going to have to touch base with their communities and figure out what their programming is going to look like. We can only anticipate that things are going to be tight.”

kkleiss@edmontonjournal.com