On September 16, we sent a letter to all Conservative, Green, Liberal and NDP federal candidates in Ontario, asking them:

“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?”

As of October 19, we’ve heard back from 23 Liberal Party candidates and also received a formal letter from Anna Gainey, President of the Liberal Party of Canada. All candidates referred to the following points from Ms. Gainey’s letter in their responses:

“Liberals understand that our kids need positive and enriching environments in order to learn and grow.

We also recognize that responsibility for education belongs to the provinces, and the Liberal Party of Canada respects that division of power. Yet there are areas in which the federal government can play a role.

The best investments we can make are those that generate economic growth and provide immediate and long-term social gain. As you have identified, as part of our historic investment in infrastructure, a Liberal government will provide a new, dedicated funding envelope for social infrastructure. We will boost investment in social infrastructure by nearly $6 billion over the next four years, and almost $20 billion over ten years.

As part of our plan, we will develop bilateral agreements with the provinces and territories. We will not only significantly increase the scale of federal infrastructure investment; our plan will provide provinces, territories, and municipalities with an unprecedented level of long-term predict ability in funding, as well. This will be done in full respect of provincial jurisdiction so that provinces can prioritize their infrastructure needs – and yes, these needs could include investment in school buildings.”