HALIFAX -- Nova Scotia is spending $99.5 million to build and renovate several schools, including a leak-plagued Halifax high school and an elementary school ravaged by last fall's storm-related flooding in Cape Breton.
Finance Minister Randy Delorey said the design and construction of nine new schools are included in the province's $684.2 million capital plan for 2017-18, which he unveiled Wednesday.
"We look at our ability to pay for projects," said Delorey. "These were the ones that government identified and decided to move forward with."
Specific dollar figures were not provided, but finance officials said funding would go toward the replacement of J.L. Ilsley High School, which is currently in the design phase.
The 46-year-old school, located in the Halifax suburb of Spryfield, has in recent years been the subject of complaints from parents and students about its structure, which has been subject to leaks. The school was closed for a week in the winter of 2014 after a significant ice storm caused several leaks.
Money will also go toward repairing flood damage to Brookland Elementary School in Sydney, N.S., and also toward an expansion as it prepares to accommodate middle school students who will transfer there when Sherwood Park school closes in November 2020.
The school was extensively damaged by floodwaters caused by the remnants of Hurricane Matthew that battered Cape Breton last October. An extensive cleanup was required after the water left mud, sewage and furnace oil on the lower floor.
Funding was also included for the renovation of F. H. MacDonald Elementary School in Sutherland's River, which will become a P-8 school to receive students from the East Pictou Middle School when it closes.
Delorey said the government planned to spend $39.2 million more on capital projects than it did last year -- an increase of slightly more than six per cent.
"We will maintain our fiscal discipline so we can continue to make important investments," he said.
Highway construction and improvements take up the biggest chunk of the capital plan, at $217.5 million.
Delorey noted that the next biggest cost was the $169.2 million for the Halifax convention centre that had been deferred from last year's books after the project's completion was delayed.
The plan also included funding for other new projects such as renovations to improve safety at the Halifax provincial court on Spring Garden Road, and courts in Dartmouth and Sydney. There is also money to upgrade select provincial park facilities and infrastructure.
Two projects to switch St. Martha's Hospital in Antigonish and the Aberdeen Hospital in New Glasgow to natural gas were also included despite the current high cost of the fuel.
A department official said the switchover was already completed at St. Martha's Hospital, while the Aberdeen project is already underway. Five other hospital commitments were put on hold, the official said, because of market conditions.
