N.B. capital budget may decide fate of 2 schools

Parents in Moncton and Campbellton could find out Tuesday if their children will be heading back to their old schools in the next few years.

Finance Minister Blaine Higgs will release the Progressive Conservative's capital budget on Tuesday, which will detail the amount it will spend on construction projects in the next year.

Two schools, Moncton High School and Polyvalente Roland-Pépin in Campbellton, were both closed early this fall for health and safety reasons and remain shuttered pending major repairs.

In Campbellton, Jean-Guy Levesque, the school superintendent, said he was surprised by what he found in the Roland-Pépin school last week.

Workers were making repairs in the section of the building that will be home to the local community college even though no work is being done in the school part of the structure.

Levesque said if one part of the school can be fixed, why not the other part.

He said he hasn't been able to get answers from the provincial government on whether money will be set aside to fix that school.

Liberal MLA Hédard Albert, the opposition's education critic, said repairs to the two high schools must be in the capital budget on Tuesday.

"If we do not find that in the capital budget, that means it's not in their minds to repair Roland-Pépin and build a new school in Moncton," Albert said.

The Tories have warned the upcoming budget will be difficult because of the worsening financial situation. The budget deficit is anticipated to surpass $820 million and it could reach $1 billion next year, according to Higgs.

The main budget will be revealed in March. The capital budget is traditionally released in December, so government departments can prepare tenders so work can start in the spring.

Government departments have been asked to cut one per cent from their current budgets and prepare for a two-per-cent reduction next year.