Kevin Deveaux  MLA Cole Harbour-Eastern Passage    

THE BEACON – OCTOBER, 2006

You have probably seen the signs around the community with regard to the need for a high school in Eastern Passage. I wanted to provide some background for those who may not know the history of our communities fight for a high school for our children.

I recall as a child that people would casually mention the need for a high school in the community. But it is important to note that in an urban area like HRM, high schools are built for at least 800 students. In rural areas, like Upper Musquodobit, the numbers are much lower.

The students of Eastern Passage have been attending high school in the Cole Harbour area for over forty years – first at Graham Creighton High School and now at Cole Harbour District High School. When these schools were built the suburban Dartmouth area had a student population that warranted one high school for all the communities. The schools were built in Cole Harbour as it was centrally located for all the communities – from Seaforth to North Preston to Eastern Passage.

In the early 1990s, when the student population warranted a second high school, the original plan was for a high school on Caldwell Road in Cole Harbour for the students of Colby Village and Eastern Passage. However, the final decision was to construct Auburn Drive High School one kilometre from Cole Harbour District High School – a decision that still defies logic.

Indeed, three of the four high schools in the greater Dartmouth area are located within a 1.5 km radius (Cole Harbour District High, Auburn Drive High and Prince Andrew High). Of course, the recent population growth in our community means our children are bussed a great distance to one of the schools located in the Cole Harbour area.

Having grown up in Eastern Passage, I graduated from Cole Harbour District High School in 1984. At that time there were approximately 200 high school students from Eastern Passage at the school. Though people discussed the need for our own high school, the student population did not warrant it.

Currently, there are 650 high school students from Eastern Passage at Cole Harbour District High School. Eleven busloads of students a day travel from our community to Cole Harbour. Over half the population of the school is from our community.

And the student population will only continue to increase. With over 700 new homes scheduled for construction in Eastern Passage in the next two years, the population of the community will exceed 15,000 by 2009, with over 700 students in Grades 10-12.

The first serious attempt to build a high school in the community was in 2001. Real estate agents and local residents may have discussed the option in the 1990s, but no serious effort was made until the provincial government requested a submission of construction priorities from the Halifax Regional School Board in 2001.

In 2001, the school board created a list of construction priorities and a high school for Eastern Passage was number 20 on the list. The provincial government approved the first four projects on the school board’s list of priorities.

In 2005, the Department of Education again requested a list of priorities from the Halifax Regional School Board and a high school for the Woodside-eastern Passage area was number three on the priority list.

Given the efforts of the school board to make a high school for the Eastern Passage-Woodside area a high priority, this is the first realistic chance our community has had to get a high school.

This month, the Provincial Cabinet will review a list of projects for approval. It is time for the community to do its part in sending a message to the government. Go online to www.easternpassagehighschool.com and sign the petition and send an e-mail to the Minister of Education. Or sign one of the hard copy petitions in local shops.

If approved, the proposal is for a fifth high school in the Dartmouth area to be located in the Eastern Passage-Woodside. In order to finish the job, there will be a site selection process in 2007-08 and our community will have to be diligent to ensure the site of the new school is located in our community.

As I have noted past articles, I wish the process was easier. If my Party had won government in either of the last two elections, we would have ensured that the high school would be built. I will continue to put political pressure on the Government, but the community must send a message to the Tory Government that this is an important issue.

This is a key moment in our quest for a high school of our own. Get involved!

THE OBSERVER – OCTOBER, 2006

Despite comments from some in my political party in recent weeks, I want to make it clear that I still support the effort of our troops in Afghanistan. Now is not the time to fold our tent and head home.

I respect those that have their opinion with regard to the counter-insurgency in Afghanistan. They have a right to speak their mind. Indeed, I think a debate on this issue is vital and a sign of how strong our democracy is.

And that is the precise reason we must continue to do our job in Afghanistan. Canada is the envy of the world. We have a thriving democracy in which the rights of all individuals are protected while ensuring the state can still accomplish much in support of the citizens – from public health care to minimum guaranteed incomes for seniors. We are a multi-cultural, bilingual society that respects diversity, not only in name, but in practice. And we have respect for the rule of law and the need for the rights of citizens to be protected.

Canada is truly unique amongst the nations of the world.

I have had the opportunity to work extensively in countries that have recently come out of a conflict – Cambodia, Kosovo and Iraq, for example. What I have learned from my experience is that the citizens of these countries want what we have – a country in which the citizens have the freedom to achieve their goals and a state that provides support and restraint where appropriate.

So why are so many Canadians afraid to put our money where our mouth is? Why are some Canadians unwilling to make sacrifices, as a nation, in the name of ensuring any citizen of the world has the same opportunity a citizen of Canada has? I suspect every Canadian wants everyone in the world to have what we have, but I fear that many see this as George Bush’s war.

Let me be clear, the conflict is not George Bush’s war. The United States was attacked on September 11, 2001 by a group that was supported by the Taliban Government in Afghanistan. As a member of NATO, when the United States was attacked, NATO declared that all members were to do what was necessary to address the problem. Canada is a member of NATO and we have an obligation to do our part.

Maybe some Canadians do not like that we are a member of NATO or that we are actively peace-making in Afghanistan. But for a nation that is relies on foreign trade as a basis of our standard of living, we cannot be isolationist. We must do our part.

Yes, we must support out troops, but I believe that those that oppose this action also support our troops. Yes, we must do our part within NATO, but suspect the vast majority of Canadians understand that we are part of an alliance.

In the end, this comes down to one fundamental question: Should Canada use its military to build and maintain peaceful, democratic nations throughout the world? Not only in Afghanistan, but in Kosovo and Sudan and Lebanon.

I believe we must see our troops as part of a larger team of Canadians that will work anywhere in the world to build and maintain a peace. There will always be a price to pay for such actions (anyone who thinks Darfur would not be a deadly mission is fooling themselves) but everyone in the world should have the right to self-determination and to choose their own government. Neither of which can be accomplished without some form of military support.