Four years ago, during the last federal election. the Fix Our Schools campaign was only a year old. At that time, we noticed that federal infrastructure money frequently went to fund community buildings like hockey arenas and curling rinks yet using federal infrastructure money to invest in public schools as critical community infrastructure seemed verboten. In fact, we were so perplexed by this phenomenon that we wrote to all federal candidates in Ontario asking them to consider investing federal money in schools as critical infrastructure.
Here we are four years later and not much has changed. Public education remains the realm of provincial governments and politicians seem reticent to delineate between the education delivered in school buildings from the actual infrastructure we happen to call school buildings. So once again, as a federal election approaches in Canada, we are confirming that school disrepair remains an issue from coast to coast in Canada. And, we are once again urging all federal parties to invest federal money in improving public school infrastructure from coast to coast.
If you agree that all levels of government ought to contribute to ensuring that all Canadian children attend schools that are safe, healthy and well-maintained, then consider asking these questions to your local federal candidates.