OAKVILLE — Stephen Lecce, Minister of Education, joined by Effie Triantafilopoulos, MPP for Oakville North—Burlington, announced that the Ontario government is investing nearly $500 million to support 37 school projects, including 23 with child care projects, across the province as part of the 2022-2023 Capital Priorities Program. This funding will build and improve schools and create new licenced child care spaces throughout the province.
The newly approved Capital Priorities Program projects will create nearly 15,700 new student spaces, and just over 1,500 new licensed child care spaces in schools. The announcement was made at Dr. David R. Williams Public School in Oakville, where the Halton District School Board will receive nearly $24 million from the Capital Priorities Program to build a new public elementary school for the new development in the northeast community of Oakville.
“We are building new schools, building more affordable child care spaces, and building hope and opportunity for Ontario students as they learn in more normal and safer classrooms,” said Minister Lecce. “We believe that students deserve to learn in-person in state-of-the-art facilities that are internet connected, accessible, with modern ventilation systems, which is why our government is delivering a major investment that accelerates construction to get it done for parents, students, and communities.”
The investment is part of the Ontario government’s commitment to provide $14 billion over 10 years to support school construction, repair, and renewal. There are currently more than 300 child care and education building-related projects in development across Ontario with more than 100 actively under construction.
In addition, the Ontario government, in partnership with Infrastructure Ontario and several school boards that were selected from the 2021-22 round of Capital Priorities, will drive forward innovative solutions for accelerated school construction through a Rapid Build pilot that will leverage Infrastructure Ontario’s rapid procurement and rapid delivery expertise, inclusive of the potential to use modular construction methodologies. These alternative builds will identify opportunities for the government to assess for future builds to procure and deliver projects in shorter periods of time so that students can take advantage of new and updated schools sooner.
The five schools selected for the pilot are:
Since 2018, the Ontario government has invested over $2.0 billion in capital projects in education, including 100 new schools, 88 additions and renovations to existing facilities and 6,410 new licensed child care spaces. The support for school-based child care centres is part of the government’s commitment to invest up to $1 billion in the creation of up to 30,000 new licensed child care spaces over five years. To date, over 25,000 new spaces have been approved, which will support families and ensure a stronger and more accessible child care system for Ontario families.
