Two Alberta cabinet ministers say money was a key factor in the government's decision to use the Charter's notwithstanding clause to override teachers' rights and shut down a provincewide strike.

In a November letter to constituents, Infrastructure Minister Martin Long said the United Conservative Party government could not risk allowing the labour dispute to go to arbitration and put the province at risk of paying out hundreds of millions of dollars.

"An arbitrator would likely have sought a middle ground between the two proposals, leaving taxpayers on the hook for hundreds of millions, potentially billions, in additional costs," he wrote.

"Albertans elected this government to make responsible choices — not to delegate them," the letter said.

Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides, a

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