Amid mounting frustration about delays in rebuilding a Port Coquitlam school razed by fire, the city’s mayor is threatening to withhold taxes from the province.
Hazel Trembath Elementary was destroyed in a suspicious fire in October 2023. But nearly a year and a half later, despite provincial promises to rebuild, there was no mention of the project in B.C.’s 2025 budget.
“We were hoping to maybe see one little line item mentioning us,” said Megan MacDonald, whose daughter was in Grade 1 when the school burned down.
She now faces daily 20-minute drives to pick up and drop her off at a backup school.
“We just think that a lot of the red tape and the bureaucracy has been really slowing this down — we are not a new school, we just wanted our school back and we thought that maybe things would get expedited,” she said.
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B.C.’s 2025 budget, unveiled Tuesday, laid out $4.5 billion in capital spending on K-12 schools over the next three years, mentioning nearly three dozen projects by name.
Port Coquitlam Mayor Brad West said families in the city are running out of patience.
He said he’s now looking at every tool at his disposal to pressure the province to move on the project.
“The province depends on the city to collect school taxes as a part of property taxes,” he said.
“Well, maybe Port Coquitlam shouldn’t collect school taxes from our residents on behalf of the province if the province can’t even get a school rebuilt in Port Coquitlam. This is not rocket science. This should not be complicated.”
On Wednesday, newly-appointed Infrastructure Minister Bowinn Ma said while it didn’t get mentioned by name, there is money earmarked to replace the school.
She said the province would be in touch with the school district “very shortly” about next steps for the project.
“There are some processes that need to be completed in order for us to establish a publicly announceable amount of funding, but we can confirm there is sufficient funding within the budget for a replacement of Hazel Trembath,” Ma said.
In the meantime, parents like Alaina Milicevic, who has children Grade 2 and Grade 5, fear that even if the work gets done it will be too late for their families.
“Even if they start building tomorrow we won’t see a school on this site for two years, and so the longer it takes for them to approve it the longer that time moves out,” she said.
“So what are we talking about now, 2028, 2029? Will any children who attended Hazel Trembath before the fire get to attend the new school? At this point, it’s not looking good.”
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