Alberta's four major party leaders dropped the door knocking for the day to square off in a televised debate in Edmonton on Thursday night but they were back on the campaign trail on Friday trying to drum up support from Albertans.

Brian Jean for the Wildrose Party, David Swann for the Liberal Party, Jim Prentice for the Progressive Conservative (PC) Party and Rachel Notley for the New Democratic Party (NDP), debated a number of topics, including funding for schools, corporate taxes and healthcare.

During the debate, Notely accused Prentice of catering to the corporate sector at the expense of education.

“You’re prepared to send 12,000 new kids into the classroom next September without a teacher because it’s more important to you to protect your corporate tax giveaways,” said Notley.

Prentice responded saying that the PC government spends $1,500 per student more than other Canadian provinces and called the coming years ‘tough’.

“We would ask school boards to work with us,” Prentice said. “We will watch and ensure that we get successful outcomes for our kids.”

He also addressed Notley about corporate taxes and said that increasing them as the NDP suggested would cause problems for an Alberta economy that is already struggling because of low oil prices.

“It will destroy investments and destroy jobs,” Prentice said.

Jean agreed an increase in corporate taxes would be self-defeating, but said the Alberta budget could be balanced without increasing taxes and user fees.

Swann also took a swipe at Prentice saying that the PCs were not preparing Alberta students for success.

Jim Prentice was in Calgary on Friday and shrugged off suggestions that he was dismissive of the Wildrose leader during the debate.

“I engaged Mr. Jean several times in the debate early on and afforded him the opportunity to explain to Albertans on television in front of all Albertans the fiscal plan that he’s put forward. That it just does not hold together. You cannot make $18B in cuts that he’s proposing to make within the Alberta government without causing pain and I invited him last night to show where that was.”

He acknowledged that Notley is strong in debates but says she could never win in Alberta.

“I have respect for Rachel. I don’t agree with her NDP philosophy. I think I made that clear last night. I think the best future for Alberta is as a free enterprise province and I don’t agree with the NDP philosophies that she espouses. We had a good discussion last night and I think Albertans got a chance to see a meaningful debate on the issues about our future,” said Prentice. “I don’t believe the voters in this province want to see an NDP coalition, an NDP government. I think they take pride in our province as the economic engine of our country, as a free enterprise province that values investment, values competitiveness that values our jobs. I think all of that will be in peril at the hands of the NDP.”

Notley was also in Calgary on Friday speaking with supporters and says there is a very clear choice in this election.

"I think first of all the Albertans will decide what kind of province Alberta is. And I think that Jim Prentice telling them what they are or not is probably not helpful in terms of having people move away from the impression that he's a little arrogant," said Notley. "What Albertans are telling me is that they want to see is a province that, where their views are respected and they said protect our healthcare, protect our education, ask those who can afford to, to pay a little bit more so that we don't have to send our kids to school without teachers and that's what I'm hearing from Albertans and I think that that's the kind of thing that defines who we are."

Albertans will head to the polls on May 5.