Larry O’Brien

For immediate release:

August 11, 2008

OTTAWA - City staff are recommending Council offer portions of land in Orléans, located at the corner of the 174 and Trim Road and worth an estimated $1 million, to help La Cité Collégiale build a new campus and trades school in the east end.

A report is expected to pass overwhelmingly at Corporate Services and Economic Development Committee Chaired by Mayor Larry O’Brien on Aug. 19 and again at a City Council meeting on August 28th. The City’s Business Advisory Committee has already endorsed this proposal.

“This is great news for the East End of Ottawa. This new campus will be the first post secondary school in Orléans and with a population of 100, 000 it is well overdue,” said Orléans Councillor Bob Monette. “I am excited at the prospect of Orléans being a venue to build our City’s trades force for the future.”

Earlier this year the City of Ottawa also supported Algonquin College’s development concept for a Centre for Construction Trades and Building Sciences and Health Sciences Education with two parcels of land worth $3.2 million abutting Baseline Station with a total area of approximately 1.62 hectares (4 acres) in the locations designated on the City’s Centrepointe Town Centre Concept Plan.

“This investment shows our commitment to ensuring the successful development of the east end, which plays an important role in Ottawa’s future,” said Mayor Larry O’Brien. “We have a booming construction industry and this new campus will ensure our next generation of workers are trained to work here in the Nation’s Capital.”

For the expansion to move forward, La Cité Collégiale still needs to secure investments from both the provincial and federal governments. The City’s contribution is a first step in making this project a reality, but is conditional until both levels of government confirm their share of the costs.

“This school will address the growing shortage of skilled workers in the construction trades and address the need for great access to skills training for mainly Francophone students,” said Andrée Lortie. “This will be a centre of specialization in the construction trades.”

The schools will sit on around 6 developable acres of land, however the site will consist of about 21 total acres. The first development stage will consist of 57,000 square feet of building. There will be training in 18 of the high-demand construction trades and will service all of Eastern Ontario.

For more information on this investment, please visit the City of Ottawa website at www.ottawa.ca

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