The Tories have accused the province of shortchanging rural students by pausing a school construction project in Grunthal days before classes began.
In 2021, when they were in government, the Progressive Conservatives approved a gymnasium addition and renovation at Green Valley School, a Grade 5-12 building.
The Hanover School Division informed community members last week that Manitoba Education had “deferred” the design-ready project.
Construction on the gym and classroom addition was anticipated to begin in 2024-25.
“On behalf of Green Valley School students, staff, and the community of Grunthal, we would like to express our sincere disappointment with this decision,” states a notice published on the division website on Aug. 28.
“While we understand the fiscal challenges the government has encountered, the identified needs that this project was to address still persist.”
Hanover said the province requested expenses incurred to date for consideration, and that the division confirm the project is a priority in future five-year capital plan submissions.
The PC MLA who represents constituents in Grunthal, which is 60 kilometres south of Winnipeg, called the development “incredibly disappointing and frustrating.”
“The NDP’s delay now means Green Valley will be short of the necessary classrooms to serve families for several more years, jamming more students into less space with no plan in place, and making it harder to recruit new teachers,” La Verendrye MLA Konrad Narth said in a news release.
Enrolment at the school was, on average, 478 in the five years leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic. In September 2023, it was 483.
Education Minister Nello Altomare defended the deferral on Wednesday, saying his predecessors did not properly budget for the project.
“We’re not going to make false promises. We’re certainly not going to play with the emotions of Manitobans,” Altomare said.
PC education critic Grant Jackson questioned the NDP’s commitment to funding schools by highlighting both the deferral and cancellation of nine sites that had been announced in Winnipeg, Brandon, Neepawa, Ste. Anne and West St. Paul.
Altomare said the state of provincial books suggests the Tories had not secured funding for the projects.
Construction is underway on two new schools in Sage Creek, one in the Louis Riel School Division and another in the Division scolaire franco-manitobaine, the minister noted.
maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca
Maggie Macintosh
Education reporter
Maggie Macintosh reports on education for the Free Press. Originally from Hamilton, Ont., Maggie was an intern at the Free Press twice while earning her degree at Ryerson’s School of Journalism (now Toronto Metropolitan University) before joining the newsroom as a reporter in 2019. Read more about Maggie.
Funding for the Free Press education reporter comes from the Government of Canada through the Local Journalism Initiative.
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