P.E.I. capital budget makes 'historic commitment' to education, including 3 additional schools
Wayne Thibodeau | CBC News | Posted: November 7, 2024 7:27 PM | Last Updated: November 7
New school in East Royalty will be built using Sherwood design for maximum speed
The P.E.I. government will build three new schools in the Charlottetown area to deal with record-breaking population growth, as well as replace the existing school in Georgetown, Finance Minister Jill Burridge said Thursday as she tabled her 2025-2026 capital budget.
Burridge compared the plans outlined in the capital budget to the sweeping changes ushered in by Alex Campbell's Liberal government in 1969, under the Comprehensive Development Plan.
"Once again, we are confronted with new challenges and new opportunities — challenges that include unprecedented population growth over the last decade, climate change, aging infrastructure, and evolving needs in healthcare, education and housing," the finance minister said on the floor of the P.E.I. Legislature.
"The decisions we make today must be guided by a vision that reaches well beyond the present, just as those leaders did in 1969."
The province has set aside $64.9 million over the next five years for two of the new elementary schools, each of which will cost more than $60 million and have room for 650 students.
Burridge said planning will start this year for a new school in East Royalty, to be completed in 2028-2029. To speed up the process, they will replicate the design of the new Sherwood Elementary School.
She said work on a new elementary school in West Royalty will begin in 2028-2029.
Meanwhile, work will begin on a new junior high school in Stratford in 2026-2027, two years earlier than initially announced. The province is budgeting $70.4 million over the next five years for that project.
"Our schools are the heart of our communities, and these investments reflect our commitment to providing students, educators, and families with the tools they need to succeed," said Burridge.
The full list of education projects is comprised of:
- The two new elementary schools in East Royalty and West Royalty, at a cost of $64.9 million over five years.
- New Stratford junior high, at a cost of $70.4 million over five years.
- A replacement school for Georgetown School, which had previously been slated for repairs, at a cost of $10 million over five years.
- Westisle Composite High School renovations, at a cost of $16.8 million over four years.
- Queen Charlotte Intermediate expansion, at a cost of $18.9 million over three years.
The province is also committing millions of dollars to ongoing projects including $4.7 million to complete work at Sherwood Elementary; $54.9 million for Stratford's new high school, now under construction; $53.3 million to complete work at École Évangéline; and $21.8 million to complete the expansion at École François-Buote.
Other spending items
The budget also projects millions in capital spending on health-care projects, including more than $200 million over the next three years to finish the new mental health hospital and addictions treatment centre in Charlottetown.
As well, the province is setting aside $16 million for phase two of the development of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, the Island's largest referral hospital, and $34 million to begin work on a new Kings County Memorial Hospital in Montague.
Other health-care investments include:
- Creating additional spaces in the home-care adult day program for seniors, at a cost of $18.8 million over four years.
- Adding long-term care beds in Souris and Tyne Valley, at a cost of $11 million over three years.
- Expanding South Shore, Gulf Shore and Central Queens patient medical homes, at a cost of $4.1 million over four years.
- Placing a new midwifery clinic in Summerside, at a cost of $1.2 million next year.
- Opening new community health centres in Three Rivers ($21.2 million), Charlottetown ($26 million) and Summerside ($10.3 million).
- Constructing a new medical residency and health education clinic at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, at a cost of $12.3 million over the next three years.
"Our health-care system is evolving to meet the demands of a growing population," Burridge said during her budget address.
Housing projects are also in the works:
- 482 new social-housing units including 30 housing units at the former manor site in Montague, at a cost of $184.6 million over the next five years.
- Building tiny homes and small homes, at a cost of $14 million over the next five years.
- Upgrading and repairing existing public housing, at a cost of $31.7 million over the next five years
- Upgrading and building new group homes for vulnerable Islanders, at a cost of $7.8 million over the next two years.
Province to build and own cell towers
The province is also taking on the issue of bad cell reception across the Island, something that was mentioned during question period in the P.E.I. Legislature on Thursday, as well as being the grounds for years of complaints from Islanders.
In the capital budget, the province announced plans to build four provincially owned cell towers over the next five years, at a cost of $2.5 million.
Telecommunications is not a provincial responsibility, which Burridge acknowledged before saying her government knows Islanders want action. She said the initiative will be tackled in partnership with service providers and will "address cellular coverage gaps."
Once the initial towers are up and running, Burridge said they will decide whether more towers are needed.
"Every single member of this chamber knows all too well the challenges around cellphone coverage in this province," the finance minister said. "We hear it daily — not just in rural P.E.I., but in our urban centres as well."
Minister says province can afford the spending
In all, Burridge's capital budget includes record-breaking spending of $482 million this year alone, and $1.6 billion over the next five years. She said the province can afford the spending because the economy is expanding and the province's debt-to-GDP ratio remains in the middle of the pack compared to other provinces in Canada.
"This capital budget is not just about addressing the needs of today, it's about preparing P.E.I. for the challenges and opportunities of tomorrow," Premier Dennis King said in a news release Thursday.
"We are committed to making bold decisions that will strengthen the foundation of our communities for generations to come."