Let’s get it done

Two of the fastest growing towns in the region happen to be St. Lazare and Vaudreuil-Dorion, which coincidently is where the Lester B. Pearson School Board hopes to erect its new elementary school to ease the overcapacity at its existing schools in these particular municipalities. Ideally, a location along the border of these neighbours could be found so the new school could serve both towns and be flexible enough to deal with any changing demographics and demands over the years. St. Lazare is currently home to Evergreen, Forest Hill junior and senior while Vaudreuil-Dorion has Pierre Elliott Trudeau elementary schools which are run under the auspices of the Pearson board.

According to a recent study of the Greater Montreal area, St. Lazare and Vaudreuil-Dorion were two of the busiest municipalities in terms of new residential construction between 2002 and 2006. St. Lazare had 1,398 construction starts during that period while Vaudreuil-Dorion had 2,798. While construction starts have gone down in the past year, off-island municipal officials have seen their respective towns grow in leaps and bounds over the past decade or two. According to the latest census, St. Lazare grew by 32 per cent between 2001 and 2006 when it reached 17,016 residents while Vaudreuil-Dorion’s population grew by almost 30 per cent, to 25,789 residents, in the same period.

These towns knew their populations have been increasing dramatically so they should have had some inkling new schools would be forthcoming and they would need to locate or make deals for potential sites. There is still time to find a site so construction could commence this summer but some serious discussions with developers who own land in these towns need to start now or else the project will be shelved for a year. That is no way to treat young families who planted roots by moving there and buying a home. It’s not up to municipal officials to run schools or the education system, but they know full well Quebec only grants funds to Pearson to build schools, not for land purchases. Yes, both these towns have had Pearson schools open in recent years but they should have realized they might be asked again for their assistance. Hopefully, any finger pointing ends now and everyone realizes a new school is a facility that will improve the quality of life in the community.