Thread by @nicolergoehring

THREAD: My speech at the groundbreaking of the new École à la Découverte in Elsinore-Chambery & to Ed Minister LaGrange:

It’s a pleasure to join you on the traditional territory of Treaty Six & of the Metis people. Congratulations to the École à la Découverte community 1/ #ableg

This is an important milestone in a long journey towards a building that can accommodate all of the students that want to learn here. Many young families are choosing to live in North #YEG, Castle Downs in particular & Im so happy that they will have a new Francophone school 2/

to serve them. Many of those students have parents who serve in the Canadian Armed Forces & many of those members have come to AB from Francophone communities elsewhere in Canada. ItS so important to our military community & our broader community, that we have strong 3/

Francophone education available close to home.
 
As you all know, this project was made possible by our @albertaNDP govt. We funded this school in Budget 2018 & I’m so proud to see the school reach this important step, of becoming a real building.

But of course schools arent 4/

just buildings.
 
They’re made up of students, staff, families & communities.
 
I want to thank Minister @AdrianaLaGrange for coming here today.
 
Minister, my hope is that before this building is completed, you will have reversed the cuts you have made to our school system. 5/

Your cuts mean fewer dollars for each student than they had in 2018.
 
That would be wrong in any year, but its especially cruel this year, when schools are struggling not just to teach, but to keep our kids safe.
 
Parents in Castle Downs reach out to me every day & share how 6/

share how scared they are to send their kids back to school.
 
I know our districts, our principals & our teachers are doing everything they can with the resources they have.
 
But this govt failed to provide the funding they need to staff up & spread out. 7/

Many parents registered their children for in-person learning based on the expectation they would get the same 2 metre physical distancing that we expect as adults.
 
But that’s impossible without adequate funding from the province. 8/

Minister, please listen to students, families, teachers & staff.
 
Its not too late to cap class sizes at 15 & keep everyone safe.
 
That’s what we need to get through this pandemic & return to normal.
 
That’s what we all want.

It’s my hope that by the time this 9/

building is ready to welcome students, that COVID-19 will be behind us & all of them will have a happy & wonderful school experience.
 
Thank you so much for having me here today. 10/10 #ableg #cdnpoli #SafeSeptemberAB #SafeSeptember