B.C. premier says plan is to fund Olympic Village elementary school but won’t say when

B.C.’s premier says he feels a “huge sense of urgency” to fund a new elementary school for Vancouver’s Olympic Village, but he could not give a date for when start of construction for the long-overdue school.

Parents have complained for years about overcrowding in nearby schools, forcing them to drive or bus their kids to schools across town. The problem will only get worse with up to 50,000 new residents expected to move into the area as part of the Broadway plan.

“Our government commitment is to fund the school. We know the urgency in the community and we will be delivering a school for the Olympic Village community,” David Eby said Thursday during a news conference to unveil the new, seismically safer Bayview Elementary school in Kitsilano.

Elenore Sturko, the education critic for B.C. United, formerly the B.C. Liberal party, said that promise rings hollow without a firm date for when the school will break ground.