MPP Oosterhoff Announces Expansion of French Language School in Orléans
Orléans – The Ontario government is investing $12.1 million in the Conseil des écoles catholiques du Centre-Est for an addition to Collège catholique Mer Bleue, helping working families in Orléans. This investment, announced by Sam Oosterhoff, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Education and MPP for Niagara West, will support the creation of 343 student spaces as part of the Ford Government’s commitment to building state-of-the-art schools for Ontario youth.
The project is part of a provincewide investment of nearly $500 million to support new school and child care spaces that were recently announced by Hon. Stephen Lecce, Minister of Education. The overall investment will support the creation of 37 school related projects which include 23 child care centres. This funding will add nearly 15,700 new student spaces and 1,502 licensed child care spaces at schools across Ontario.
“The new addition at Collège catholique Mer Bleue is great news for working families in Orléans,” said MPP Oosterhoff.
“Our government remains strongly committed to investing in our schools to ensure that hard-working parents are supported, and our young people acquire the knowledge and skills they need to achieve lifelong success.”
“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.”
“Under Premier Ford’s leadership, our government is delivering more schools across the province to support the needs of Ontario’s students, families and growing communities,” said Hon. Kinga Surma, Minister of Infrastructure.
“By cutting red tape and introducing the Rapid Build pilot project to expedite procurement and construction processes to build better schools faster, we are ensuring that students reap the benefits of state-of-the-art learning facilities sooner and have access to education in a safe and healthy environment. These investments are just one of the ways we are building critical infrastructure – such as schools, hospitals, long-term care homes and public transit – that Ontarians rely on with a budget over $148 billion over the next decade.”
The investment is part of the Ontario government’s commitment to provide $14 billion to support school construction over ten years. Since 2018, the government has approved nearly 200 new projects and there are currently more than 300 child care and education building-related projects in development, with more than 100 actively under construction.
CECCE Chair, Johanne Lacombe, expressed heart-felt thanks to the Ontario government for this funding, which will add 343 student spaces at Collège catholique Mer Bleue.
“This is great news for the Francophone community in Orléans who will be able to continue to thrive in a caring, state-of-the-art facility,” she added enthusiastically.
“Since it first opened its doors in 2016, Collège catholique Mer Bleue has experienced significant growth and is currently operating at 126% capacity,” said Marc Bertrand, Director of Education of Conseil des écoles catholiques du Centre-Est.
“To accommodate this expansion, the school must use a dozen portable classrooms. The expansion will therefore allow students to access high quality facilities and, at the same time, reduce the number of outdoor portable classrooms.”
Highlights of the project include:
- 343 grade 7-12 student spaces.
Collège catholique Mer Bleue is located at 6401 Renaud Road in Orléans.