SOUND OFF: NDP school capital freeze leaves students and educators in the cold
WHEN IT COMES TO THE NDP’S PRIORITIES, our kids seem to be way at the bottom of the list.
First, we heard John Horgan’s announcement of a billion-dollar vanity museum project in his own backyard. Beyond the staggering cost of the facility’s demolition and complete rebuild, people were also shocked to hear the museum would be shut down for nearly a decade. No school visits, family trips or learning opportunities for B.C. children until they’re teenagers or older.
Next, we learned the NDP government has frozen the construction of new schools because they’ve run out of money to pay for their promises. They’re backtracking on their commitment to build the $87 million replacement of Mission Secondary School that NDP MLAs Pam Alexis and Bob D’Eith campaigned on in 2020.
As word of this deferral got out earlier this week and as NDP staffers frantically tried to fight back against the revelations on social media, even more examples emerged of the government putting off promised school projects. The Vancouver School District said the government refused to fund any new major capital projects for the coming year and had turned its back on the seismic repairs needed at three schools at the highest risk of collapse in an earthquake. On the island, the Sooke School District said three new elementary schools for Langford and Colwood and a seismic upgrade of an elementary school in Sooke were not approved. Other communities are facing — or fearing — similar bad news from the NDP.
