(Laval) The Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) promises to add $2 billion to the massive investments already announced by Québec to renovate the province’s aging and dilapidated schools.
Posted at 2:53 p.m.
Updated at 3:36 p.m.
When the last budget was tabled last March, the 2022-2032 Quebec Infrastructure Plan (PQI) revealed that 59% of schools in Quebec were in poor or very poor condition. A year earlier, this proportion was 56%.
The CAQ therefore proposes to add $2 billion to the investments of $7 billion already provided for in the last budget for the next four years, for a total of $9 billion.
“Of the 3,500 schools in Quebec, there are [a] 1800 that need upgrading. […] We are going to renovate 600 of them, so a third, in the next mandate, [mais] unfortunately there are limits [à ce qu’on peut faire] because of the number of employees in construction, ”said CAQ chief François Legault on Wednesday.
Under the previous Liberal government, Quebec had set itself the objective that at least 85% of school buildings be in a state deemed satisfactory. The CAQ then lowered this target to 50% during its first mandate, blaming the Liberal Party, which they said had underfunded school renovations due to an austerity policy.
Earlier this year, François Legault justified that the percentage of schools deemed to be in poor or very poor condition had increased under his watch due to the shortage of labor in the construction sector, which complicates and slows down the management of major government projects.
This new promise of investment in schools was made on Wednesday in Laval, in the riding of Vimont, where the CAQ wants to make gains on October 3. During the last election, five of the six ridings on Île Jésus were won by the Liberal Party. The Qc125 electoral projection site considers that the party of François Legault could delight up to four constituencies in the region from the troops of Dominique Anglade, if the trend continues.