Ontario Liberals pledge to cancel Highway 413, spend $10 billion on schools
An Ontario Liberal government would spend $10 billion to build and repair schools if elected in June, with the party pledging to fund the promise by cancelling the planned Highway 413.
Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca attempted to paint the Progressive Conservatives as harming public education.
"We saw the undermining and the underfunding of publicly funded education by Doug Ford and the conservatives before the pandemic began," he said, referencing tense contract negotiations with teachers and the instituting of mandatory online courses in secondary school.
"Conservatives just cannot help themselves, that when they're given a chance ... one of their first actions is to go on the attack against publicly funded education."
The Liberals say their capital schools plan would build 200 more schools, repair, upgrade and rebuild another 4,500, and carry out renovations to ensure new ventilation systems in every school that needs them.
The party said it would allocate the $10 billion to be spent over five or six years, and it would be in addition to $14 billion over 10 years that has already been budgeted.
The Progressive Conservatives have not provided an overall cost estimate for the planned Highway 413 around the Greater Toronto Area, but the Liberals oppose it, saying it will destroy farmland and won't save commuters much time. Independent estimates have pegged the cost at up to $10 billion.
The school repair backlog has been pegged in recent years around $16 billion, a number that the NDP largely blames on the previous Liberal government that was in power for 15 years.
The Liberals closed more than 270 schools, the NDP noted. Del Duca said if the Liberals form government after this election, "we will not be closing any schools."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 4, 2022.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Maple Leafs fall to Bruins in Game 3, trail series 2-1
Brad Marchand scored twice, including the winner in the third period, and added an assist as the Boston Bruins downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series Wednesday
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
New Indigenous loan guarantee program a 'really big deal,' Freeland says at Toronto conference
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the 1,700 delegates attending the two-day First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference that concluded Tuesday in Toronto.
'Life was not fair to him': Daughter of N.B. man exonerated of murder remembers him as a kind soul
The daughter of a New Brunswick man recently exonerated from murder, is remembering her father as somebody who, despite a wrongful conviction, never became bitter or angry.