Tories plan to accelerate new school construction
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 14/08/2019 (1708 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
The Progressive Conservatives are promising to speed up school construction in Manitoba by adding 13 new facilities over the next decade, including eight in Winnipeg.
PC Leader Brian Pallister, critical of the former NDP government’s school-building record, said it was time to reduce the number of students studying in portable classrooms.
“Under the NDP, a record number of students were forced to try and learn in modular classrooms or in trailers while our existing schools were allowed to deteriorate,” he said at a campaign announcement Thursday outside Amber Trails Community School. “With these new schools, almost 11,000 students will be taken out of trailers and put back into real quality classrooms, where they belong.”
The provincial NDP were in power from 1999 to 2016, when the Tories were voted in.
Pallister could not immediately say how many schools would be built over the next four years. He said the PCs would release a projected cost of the schools’ pledge later in the election campaign.
Manitobans go to the polls Sept. 10.
With seven now in various stages of design and construction, the total number of new schools in Manitoba will rise to 20 over the next 10 years, Pallister said. He claimed the construction schedule envisioned by the Tories would be the fastest pace since the era of Conservative premier Duff Roblin in the 1960s.
“The schools’ locations and construction schedules won’t be based on political considerations,” Pallister vowed. “They’ll be based on the needs of our students.”
The proposed city facilities include a high school in northwest Winnipeg, new Franco-manitoban School Division K-8 schools in Transcona and Sage Creek, a second K-8 school in Sage Creek, as well as elementary schools in Seven Oaks and Pembina Trails school divisions.
Manitoba Liberal Leader Dougald Lamont characterized the announcement as a “huge about-face,” alleging the Pallister government had previously refused to make significant investments in education.
He also questioned why the Tories would make an announcement about building new schools before seeing the results of the K-12 review they commissioned, expected in February.
“And, frankly, these are a lot of big-ticket promises for a party that’s shown it has no real interest in investing when it comes down to the crunch,” Lamont said.
The NDP issued a statement accusing Pallister of unnecessarily delaying school construction “to suit his own political agenda.”
“The first thing Pallister did when he took office was to cancel new schools in Brandon and Winnipeg,” the NDP said. “Since then he has not completed one new school.”
— with files from Jessica Botelho-Urbanski
larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca
Larry Kusch
Legislature reporter
Larry Kusch didn’t know what he wanted to do with his life until he attended a high school newspaper editor’s workshop in Regina in the summer of 1969 and listened to a university student speak glowingly about the journalism program at Carleton University in Ottawa.
On the campaign trail
Getting personalBrian Pallister was asked Thursday for his reaction to two new NDP attack ads that target him personally.
The ads, running on TV and online, feature rants against the PC leader by would-be voters upset by the state of health care and the condition of Winnipeg’s streets. Each ends with the tag line “What an a–.”
Pallister said the ads “are in poor taste” and “a sign of desperation.”
“Two days ago, (leader Wab) Kinew and the NDP said they were going to run a high-road principled campaign and were going to avoid name-calling,” he said. “And a day later, they released ads that I haven’t seen in Manitoba political history. Personal attack ads.
“So, we’ll continue to put the facts out there about Mr. Kinew’s background, and the NDP can respond as they wish. But I think Manitobans are classy people, and I don’t think they’ll appreciate that desperate attempt to get political support.”
Wait times report on hold
The Winnipeg Regional Health Authority says it won’t be releasing its usual monthly hospital wait-time report during the provincial election campaign. The report listing median waits for service at hospital emergency rooms and urgent care centres is usually posted on the WRHA’s website on the last Thursday of each month.
Wait times have been a politically sensitive topic, particularly with the recent changes to the hospital system. A WRHA spokesman said while no data will be released during the writ period, the monthly reports will resume after the Sept. 10 election.
“The rationale is that we won’t be releasing that data, nor any data, that could potentially add to the public discourse on the Winnipeg clinical changes during a writ period,” he said. Meanwhile, Winnipeggers can still check the WRHA’s website to view current ER waits at each hospital.
Getting closer
The Manitoba Liberals say they’ve nominated candidates in 48 of the 57 provincial electoral districts. The NDP and the Progressive Conservatives have both nominated a full slate of candidates, while, according to Elections Manitoba’s website, the Greens have named 18.
Larry Kusch
Legislature reporter
Larry Kusch didn’t know what he wanted to do with his life until he attended a high school newspaper editor’s workshop in Regina in the summer of 1969 and listened to a university student speak glowingly about the journalism program at Carleton University in Ottawa.
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