To send a letter to your local federal candidates urging them to allocate federal infrastructure dollars to repairing and rebuilding our country’s public schools, click here. You can also simply copy and past the letter, which is printed below on this blog post.
Our federal government provides money for universities, colleges, curling rinks and hockey arenas. Surely the five-million Canadian children who attend public schools deserve some federal money to go towards ensuring their schools are safe and well-maintained?
All you need to do is fill out the names and email addresses of your local federal candidates, then sign your name and mailing address so the candidate knows you are a voter in their riding. To find email addresses for your local federal candidates click here.
Copy of the Fix Our Schools letter to federal candidates
Dear YOUR LOCAL FEDERAL CANDIDATES,
Children in one Canadian school wore winter coats at school this past winter because their classroom was twelve degrees Celsius.
Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident of disrepair in Canadian public schools:
- In Vancouver, schools need approximately $1-billion of seismic upgrades to prevent collapse in case of earthquakes; and there are hundreds of millions of dollars in outstanding maintenance in public schools across British Columbia.
- In Calgary, there is $1-billion in deferred maintenance in schools at the Calgary Board of Education. Deferred maintenance is defined as “estimate of the required costs to maintain safe, comfortable and supportive learning environments”. Given current provincial funding levels, the amount of deferred maintenance is going to continue to grow.
- In Edmonton, there is over $250-million in deferred maintenance in Edmonton Catholic School District (ECSD) schools and over $200-million in deferred maintenance in Edmonton Public District School Board (EPDSB) schools.
- In Ontario, all 72 public school boards have repair backlogs, for a total of over $15-billion of outstanding repairs – many of which are deemed “urgent” by the Province.
- In Montreal, almost 40% of the 226 schools in one board were recently deemed to be in either an “excessive [or] advanced state of decay”.
- In New Brunswick, two public schools had to be closed in 2010 because they were unsafe, forcing that provincial government to invest more in school buildings.
The 5-million children who attend Canadian public schools deserve better – as do the countless Canadian children who attend childcare programs in these same schools. Voters across the country consider their local public schools to be community hubs, and expect these buildings to be safe, well-maintained, and funded as critical social infrastructure.
Federal infrastructure money has been used for hockey arenas, curling rinks and gazebos. Surely, Canadians would agree that federal investment in school buildings is equally important? So, our question to the Federal parties is this:
How much federal infrastructure money would your party invest in repairing and rebuilding Canadian public school buildings – a critical part of our country’s infrastructure?
Kind regards,
YOUR NAME & ADDRESS