COLUMN: View from the Legislature – Where are the promised schools?

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One of the more pleasurable tasks that politicians have is what is known as “turning the sod.” This usually occurs just prior to the beginning of construction on a project that is either partially or fully publicly funded. I often joke at these events that politicians are fortunate to be able to come to a sod turning and then return for the ribbon cutting and all the real work happens in between.

Last summer when I arrived to help turn the sod for the construction of the new K-4 Parkhill school in Steinbach, I noticed that construction had already begun. It is not unusual for some work to begin prior to a ceremonial sod turning and, in this case, I was very happy to see that progress was already being made. It was only a few months until the fall provincial election and while I was certainly hopeful that government would not change, I also know that those democratic decisions are left in the hands of voters.

And despite the promises of the NDP that they were committed to education, I had seen the NDP cancel promised projects before. In this situation not only did government change in the fall of 2023 in Manitoba but, sadly, history quickly repeated itself and the NDP started cancelling education, healthcare and other needed projects.

Fortunately, the Steinbach K-4 school was far enough along that it would have been practically impossible to stop. Otherwise, it may very well have ended up on the NDP chopping block. Not far down the road in Grunthal, that is exactly the scenario they are facing as the much-needed expansion of the Green Valley School has been put on ice by the NDP government while students in that growing community struggle to find suitable learning space. The acting NDP Minister of Education seemed to suggest last week that the construction of the new Steinbach school would in some way relieve the crowding in the Grunthal school 30 minutes away.

It was a puzzling comment but the whole approach to school construction by the NDP government has been puzzling. One of the first things they did was cancel nine new schools that the Department of Education had prioritized as being in high need due to population growth in the areas identified.

At first the NDP said they cancelled the schools because they didn’t believe there was money in the previous budget and then they brought in their own budget which contained no money for the schools. More recently they stated that they cancelled the schools because they didn’t like the proposed private-public building model that was being used for the schools (even though it is used for many other projects). But the NDP have not recommitted to the schools using a traditional fully publicly funded model either. So, all we know for sure is that there were schools that were promised and planned, there are students that are experiencing overcrowding in current schools and the NDP have provided no information about what they plan to do about this challenge.

As the MLA for Steinbach, I am of course glad that the new K-4 school was far enough along that it could not end up on the chopping block of the new NDP government. But as importantly, the question needs to be asked on behalf of all Manitobans, where are the promised schools?

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