August 10th, 2015

Statement by NDP Education Critic Lisa Gretzky, MPP Windsor West, regarding Community Hubs

“New Democrats have long supported the idea of turning schools into community hubs, and as such, I welcome the report from Karen Pitre in this regard. However, I find the contradictions of Premier Wynne and her Liberal government hard to ignore. On one hand they say they want to create community hubs, but at the same time they have been rapidly closing schools, even going so far as to change the process to close schools faster and stifle community input.

 

Frankly, the facts speak for themselves, the Liberals have already closed more than 88 neighbourhood schools, in just three years, across the province. A government truly committed to community hubs would not be putting adult education and child care spaces at risk by continuing to close schools. Given Premier Wynne’s plan to cut $500 million from education, I fear we can expect the closure of more community schools and further chaos in our education system.”