Federal government officially announces financial support for West Royalty school project

The federal government announced its support for the West Royalty school expansion in a news conference held virtually Tuesday morning.

The project will be cost shared, with P.E.I. contributing nearly $1.3 million and the federal government paying almost $5.2 million from the COVID-19 resilience stream through Infrastructure Canada.

Charlottetown MP Sean Casey says the project will help the Island economy recover from the pandemic.

"Normally the federal government does not fund schools and normally the federal government does not cost-share projects on an 80/20 basis. Both of those things are unique to this particular fund," he said.

"It's really designed to respond to the pandemic and also provide some instant stimulus."

The project includes 10 new classrooms, a small gym, student break-out rooms, and upgrades to the school's security and heating systems.

So far, Trudeau's federal government has announced $322.3 billion in pandemic stimulus spending. 

Funding secured

During the District 10 byelection this fall, Casey raised concerns when the provincial government announced the West Royalty project — along with capital improvements at Eliot River and Montague Consolidated schools — before the federal funding was secured.

At the time, Casey said announcing federal funding without a formal agreement could put projects at risk.

"What I can say is the announcement was made today and everyone was happy it was made today," Casey said.

"There were lots of discussions at the time that I'm not at liberty to disclose but all's well that ends well."

Casey was joined on the announcement call by federal Minister of Infrastructure Catherine McKenna, P.E.I. Minister of Infrastructure Steven Myers and West Royalty Elementary School principal Marilyn MacLean.

"This is one of the first projects that we have put forward, the first project to be announced, but there will be many more to come so we're really thankful to have the partnership that we do with the federal government," Myers said.

Casey said the federal government hasn't received applications for any other projects yet.

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