The MHA for Topsail-Paradise says after going through the estimates process he is disappointed to learn that the government’s budget announcement for a new high school in Paradise is only in the early stages.

Paul Dinn calls it “nothing more than a placeholder.”

Dinn says parents and residents were excited to learn that calls for the new facility would become a reality, but says their hopes were dashed as the government only allocated $50,000 in Budget 2024 to begin planning the new school.

A high school in the area was at the top of the NLESD capital works for many years, says Dinn. He says the PC government announced plans for such a facility in their 2015 budget but it was deferred by the newly- elected Liberal government later that year.

Dinn questions why the school’s development is in the “very early, initial stages.”

He says there should already be a good understanding of what is needed. Dinn says the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure—which would take on much of the design and planning work—must already have that information in shop.