Ontario ice cream maker Chapman's says it wants to buy a small town elementary school to prevent the province's Liberal government from shutting it down.

Chapman's Ice Cream is the primary employer in Markdale, a small town of about 1,200 people about a half hour's drive southeast of Owen Sound.

The town's only elementary school, Beavercrest Community School, is among the estimated 600 "underutilized" schools that the province says it can no longer afford. The province estimates it spends about $1 billion on schools that can potentially close, as it grapples with paring down a nearly $11 billion deficit.

Beavercrest Community School in Markdale, Ont., faces possible closing. Chapman's wants to rescue it. (Google)

This fall, the Bluewater District School Board announced that Beavercrest, which currently has about 200 students, could close by June 2017 because of cuts in provincial subsidies.

"It's going to have such a detriment to my business I can't even tell you," Ashley Chapman said of the planned closing. Beavercrest's students would have to travel by bus to the next community to attend classes.

[Trustees] want to be good custodians of our school, but they don't have the money. If money is the problem, we can certainly help with that. - Ashley Chapman, Chapman's Ice Cream

The vice-president of Chapman's Ice Cream believes that if Beavercrest were to close, it would not only be a blow to the community, it would also hamstring the future growth of his business.

Renovations are currently underway to add 100,000 square feet of production space to Chapman's manufacturing facility in Markdale with plans to expand his current workforce from 300 to 1,000 over the next five years.

"It's absolutely devastating," he said. "I'm having trouble today getting unskilled workers in my factory. How am I going to attract 400 workers in the area if [kids] don't even have an elementary school to go to?"

Chapman offering $1M

The ice cream maker is offering trustees $1 million to purchase the building, which the company plans to lease back to the school board over the long term.

Chapman said he has already made his pitch to local trustees, and they're open to the idea.

"They hate the position that they're in," he said. "They don't like it anymore than we do. They want to be good custodians of our school, but they don't have the money. If money is the problem, we can certainly help with that."

Chocolate ice cream rolls along the production line at the ice cream maker's manufacturing facility in Markdale, Ont., where the town's only school could close under a provincial consolidation plan. (Chapman's Ice Cream)

It's not the first time Chapman's Ice Cream has offered to use its spending power to help the community.

In 2009, when the ice cream maker's factory burned to the ground, Chapman's continued to pay its employees while the structure was rebuilt.

'Insulting'

Since then, business has rebounded, and the ranks of Chapman's workforce swells to 700 in summer, as appetite for ice cream rises with the temperature.

Chapman notes that the possible merger or closing of 600 schools across the province has angered not just people in his town, but communities across Ontario.

"It's insulting, and you know what? People in Ontario they will take a lot. They will not complain about a lot of the policies of this provincial government, but if they start messing with our children's future, oh boy, are they in for a surprise, because that is something we cannot allow."