(Quebec) Liberal MP Marwah Rizqy says she has already received several photos of dilapidated schools, two days after launching an appeal to all on social networks.
Ms. Rizqy took the initiative to request these photos last Wednesday, when Prime Minister François Legault said he doubted the portrait on the dilapidation of schools.
The proportion of buildings in poor or very poor condition in the education network has gone from 59% to 61% in one year, according to budget documents presented on Tuesday.
Asked about the subject, Mr. Legault said he doubted that all these schools were dilapidated. He suspects the school service centers of inflating the needs to have more money.
The Prime Minister announced in the same breath that he had mandated his Minister responsible for Infrastructure, Jonatan Julien, to review the process for evaluating the dilapidation of schools.
At a press briefing at the National Assembly on Friday morning, Ms. Rizqy exhibited several photos which, according to her, prove that the majority of schools in Quebec are in poor condition.
The Liberal MP said she remembers that when he was a radio host, the Minister of Education, Bernard Drainville, “had no doubts about the dilapidation of the schools”.
During an interpellation at the Blue Room on Friday, Ms. Rizqy also raised the issue of violence in schools. She said she has observed an increase in violent incidents across Quebec.
The elected representative of Saint-Laurent explained that she had made an access to information request and obtained data, in particular on the seizure of weapons, such as rifles and handguns.
In Laval, for example, 14 weapons were seized in 2021-2022, compared to six weapons in 2018-2019. In Repentigny, no weapons were seized in 2018-2019, but 14 were seized two years later, she said.
Mr. Drainville replied that he was “extremely concerned”. He announced that he was preparing a strategy to combat violence in schools. There are “increasingly pressing challenges,” he said.
The Minister added that means were already in place and that police officers are present in certain schools. “If we need to add [means], we will add more,” he said.
