Funding approved for expansion of École La Vérendrye gymnasium

By Alejandra Pulido-Guzman - Lethbridge Herald on April 20, 2023.

Herald photo by Alejandra Pulido-Guzman Officials stand in the École La Vérendrye gymnasium during an announcement of the approval of funding for its expansion.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDapulido@lethbridgeherald.com

Minister of infrastructure and MLA for Lethbridge East, Nathan Neudorf announced the government’s approval for funding of the expansion of the École La Vérendrye’s gymnasium Wednesday morning.

Neudorf said this gymnasium project is one of many good news items that came out of Budget 2023.

“Alberta’s government is investing $377 million over three years to build 58 new school projects, including several projects right here in Lethbridge. This gymnasium has been one that’s been on the list for many years,” said Neudorf.

He pointed out that Conseil Scolaire FrancoSud board chair Marco Bergeron has worked incredibly hard to see that this project gets the attention it deserves.

“This gymnasium has been a challenge for the school for many years and his continued passion and advocacy has finally brought this to fruition, so I’d like to thank him in particular for his hard work on that,” said Neudorf.

He said many steps need to be taken before shovels hit the ground since the project needs to go through design, contracting and building phases.

“To have the funding in place to fully build it is very exciting and I’d also like to thank the City of Lethbridge mayor and council for their contribution to make sure that this project gets fully built for the betterment of the school.”

Neudorf said investing in priority school projects like this gymnasium and other school projects here in Lethbridge is critical for ensuring Alberta students having access to world-class learning facilities right in their home and backyards.

“Budget 2023 also provides new funding for the full construction of a new K to 6 school in West Lethbridge within the Holy Spirit school division, as well as planning funding for Galbraith Elementary School which is part of the Lethbridge public school division,” said Neudorf.

He added that last year the government also announced another full school for the public school division on the westside.

“This project is at the tender stage with construction expected to begin in the summer of 2023,” said Neudorf.

Mayor Blain Hyggen said the new gymnasium will provide hours of fun and activity for students but more than that is providing a space for growth and development for generations to come.

“Lethbridge city council is grateful for the Alberta government’s support, in addition to the council’s investment as minister Neudorf had mentioned on this gymnasium project. We’re looking forward to the expansion of education facilities within our city,” said Hyggen.

He mentioned he had conversations with Bergeron going back six or seven years about the gymnasium expansion project and to see it become a reality was nothing short of exciting.

When Bergeron spoke about the project finally coming to fruition, he was emotional and said he could not thank everyone involved enough.

“For 10 years the parents worked so hard. I was the face to look at but behind my face we had a ton of parents who worked really hard. We kept trying and now as Mr. Hyggen said, it’s a dream, a dream that is a reality,” said Bergeron.

He said the investment will allow the school to double the size of its existing gymnasium and with that, students will be able to enjoy assemblies and cultural, social and physical activities.

“The current gym cannot accommodate certain sports to be played due to the small size. So we thanks to the government of Alberta for this investment and city council for committing $500,000 as part of their capital improvement program,” said Bergeron.

During a question-and-answer period, Neudorf said there is no set timeline for completion of the project.

“Because of the competitive process there’s some flexibility in that time frame. Some planning and design work, which can take some of that time, has already been done so that might expedient the time frame,” said Neudorf.

He said on the design portion there are still some requirements that need to be followed like the drawings need to be submitted for approval through all the municipal bylaws and requirements on the construction side.

“Then it would be tendered for construction and then built. It would be my hope that this whole process would be somewhere in the two to three year range, there are a couple of factors that could influence that, but that would be the expectation,” said Neudorf.

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