For the first time since the idea of selling surplus land to accomodate a private school came up at city hall, the principal behind the idea has spoken out against public sector unions, among others.
A land deal that J.S. Sidhu had hoped would be done by May of this year, is being pushed back until next spring.
“What kind of absurdity is this?” Sidhu asked reporters after council’s executive committee talked about the proposal.
He said he’s not sure who’s behind the pushback to take land that was once designated for the public system but never used, and using the joint-use agreement to sell the land at fair market value.
WATCH: A battle is brewing over who should be allowed to build on sites set aside for new schools in this 2016 report. Provincial Affairs reporter Tom Vernon has more.
Sidhu has run Headway School, a school that caters to the Sikh community, for 16 years and is currently located in Forest Heights.
He doesn’t want the 360 kindergarten to Grade 12 students being bussed for an hour a day to and from Mill Woods and wants a school closer to home.
That’s why he’s eyeing the city owned property at 38 Street and 38 Avenue.
Sidhu insists he could successfully open 10 independent schools, and his dream is for the government to allow them to be charter schools.
“I may look like I just got off the boat, but I’m a major in Canadian history from the University of Manitoba. I came here as a 13 years old and I know what history is.
“Multi-cultural society is in the constitution for God sakes. And so far Pierre Elliot Trudeau must be rolling in his grave because this is just lip service. Multiculturalism also means providing infrastructure for multi cultures.”
Sidhu said children being taught in their language is needed, citing 2011 Stats Can numbers that say 30 percent of third generation Sikhs can speak Punjabi.
“Third generation you’ll be wiped out. You will be total coconuts, outside brown, inside white.”
“We need schools. We need them in community. And some union says ‘no no our jobs are in danger,’ well my culture and my religion is in danger,” Sidhu said of a perceived pushback from the public sector unions.
He said Canada’s immigration minister should advertise that abroad suggesting it would make Sikhs think twice about coming to Canada.
“Say that so maybe my father would have stopped in India and said the hell with the money.”
Sidhu said his graduation rate is 100 per cent, compared to what you see in public education.
“A group of people using taxpayers money are screwing up, for the lack of a better word, other citizens of Canada, born and raised and bred in Mill Woods,” Sidhu said. “They’re crying because they can’t do a job as good as independent schools. And that’s what they’re afraid of, that kids will come there in droves. Well do a better job.”
“Monopolizing education, monopolizing anything is not healthy for a capitalist democratic society.”
City manager Linda Cochrane said the process isn’t going to be simple or quick. The city will be looking to other cities to see how they handled land sales like this.
“We’ve got to maybe look at other options for the private school interests and see if they will work and hope that we can come to something that every one can live with,” she said. “It’s not for the faint of heart.”
When the issue first came up last year, the public school board voiced opposition to the land sale.
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