Build the Schools. End Hallway Education.
WINNIPEG — Today, Manitoba’s Progressive Conservatives launched a provincial petition calling on Wab Kinew and NDP education minister Nello Altomare to resume plans for nine new schools cut by their government, and to put an end to ‘hallway education’ as a result of overcrowded classrooms.
“One of Wab Kinew’s first acts as premier was cancelling the construction of several new schools and thousands of new classroom and daycare spaces for Manitoba families,” said Wayne Ewasko, Leader of the Official Opposition. “At a time when enrolments are surging and schools are overflowing, Manitobans are telling the NDP to make education a priority and build new schools so our students have the world-class education system they deserve.”
In late 2023, the NDP announced that they would be abandoning plans for nine new schools and nearly 700 daycare spaces initiated by the Progressive Conservatives, including:
- a K-8 school and childcare centre in Transcona’s Devonshire Park (River East Transcona);
- a K-8 school and childcare facility in Bridgwater Lakes (Pembina Trails);
- a K-8 school and childcare facility in Prairie Pointe (Pembina Trails);
- a K-12 French school and childcare centre in Brandon (Division scolaire franco-manitobaine);
- a K-8 school and childcare facility in north Winnipeg (Seven Oaks);
- a K-8 school and childcare facility in West St. Paul (Seven Oaks);
- a K-8 school and childcare centre in southwest Brandon (Brandon);
- a 9-12 vocational school and childcare centre in Neepawa (Beautiful Plains); and
- a 9-12 vocational school and childcare centre in Ste. Anne (Seine River).
“Parents and trustees fought hard for these schools,” said Ewasko. “They showed up, they told us what schools were needed, and where they should go. Our PC government made the commitment to get these schools built. Land was bought, tenders were put out, and construction should be underway.”
School divisions and parents in recent months have decried their schools as “bursting at the seams” due to overcrowding. The NDP government has repeatedly dismissed those concerns.
“Libraries without books, school divisions without schools—that’s the NDP’s hallway education plan,” said Spruce Woods MLA Grant Jackson, PC Critic for Education. “Earlier this month, we visited some of the sites where new schools were planned, and all we saw were the empty fields of the NDP. These are some of the fastest growing communities in Canada, and their schools are having to resort to makeshift classrooms.”
Over the last 11 months, the NDP have also delayed funding to complete a new school in Sage Creek, withheld funding for a Waverley Heights school to replace its broken HVAC system, cancelled a school expansion in Grunthal, and cut modular classrooms from another Winnipeg school.
“The NDP have told school divisions that education wasn’t in their top five priorities,” said Jackson. “That needs to change. The NDP needs to put education on the government syllabus, stop neglecting students, and start building the schools.”
Manitobans can sign the petition at pcmbcaucus.com/buildtheschools.
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For media inquiries, please contact PCCaucus_Media@leg.gov.mb.ca