Casey rejects accusation schools were built for political gain
Posted Dec 1, 2016 07:22:08 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Nova Scotia’s education minister is defending decisions over the construction of new schools in the province.
In a report released Wednesday, Auditor General Michael Pickup noted problems with queue jumping, where school projects were approved despite having others being higher on their priority list, including two schools that were approved in the ridings of Premier Stephen McNeil and Education Minister Karen Casey.
Progressive Conservative Tim Houston is accusing the government of playing politics saying change is needed in how new schools are chosen.
“Schools for votes is the way the Liberals are approaching the whole process of where they’re putting schools and some of the communities they’re overlooking,” Houston told NEWS 95.7. “It’s really too bad.”
Karen Casey rejected opposition contentions this was done for political gain.
“A ridiculous comment to make,” she stated. “There are a number of bits of information that we use at cabinet to make our decisions, regional fairness is certainly one of the things we have to consider.”
Casey also says the government plans to move ahead with a decision to build a new $21-million high school in Eastern Passage despite the auditor general saying it’s not needed.
The minister was left to defend her department after Pickup found the school was approved without evidence to support its need.
The report says 2015 enrolment for nearby Cole Harbour High and Auburn Drive High show the schools are at just over 70 per cent of their capacity, a figure that will drop below 50 per cent when estimating enrolments in 2018 after the new Eastern Passage school opens.
Casey told Global News the government won’t be rethinking their plans.
“It had been approved by the government of the day, we accepted that and honoured that,” she said.
NDP leader Gary Burrill refused to condemn the former Dexter government for approving the school, saying he wasn’t a part of the cabinet at the time of the decision, so he has no basis to make a judgement.
