Ontario Government Building Child Care Centre in Pickering

Province gives approval to proceed to tender a Child Care Centre Addition at École élementaire publique Ronald-Marion

As part of Ontario’s ongoing efforts to build and improve local schools, the province provided the Conseil scolaire Viamonde with approval to proceed to tender a Child Care Centre Addition at École élementaire publique Ronald-Marion. This is supported by an investment of $4.97 million, which includes additional funding of $2.2 million.

The Government of Ontario is delivering more than $26.6 billion in education funding for the 2022-23 school year, which is the highest investment in public education in Ontario’s history. Investing in the province’s schools is an integral part of Ontario’s Plan to Catch Up, which is squarely focused on the priorities of parents and includes five key components:

• Kids being back in the classroom, with a full school experience that includes extracurriculars like sports, band and field trips;
• Investing more than $175 million for enhanced tutoring support programs delivered by school boards and community partners, with a focus on reading, writing and math;
• Updating the curriculum to prepare students for the jobs of tomorrow, including opportunities in the skilled trades;
• Providing more money to build schools and improve education;
• Allocating $90 million – the highest amount in Ontario history, and a 420 per cent increase from 2017-18 – to support student mental health.

Once completed, this project will deliver 49 new licensed child care spaces for local families. The investment is part of the Ontario government’s commitment to provide $14 billion to support school construction, repair and renewal over 10 years. Since 2018, the government has approved nearly 200 school construction projects and the development of more than 300 child care and education building-related projects, of which, more than 100 are actively under construction.

“The funding for a child care centre addition at École élementaire publique Ronald-Marion is great news for our community,” said Peter Bethlenfalvy, MPP for Pickering-Uxbridge. “This investment will ensure families and students have access to a quality learning environment in the years ahead.”

“Under Minister Lecce’s leadership, the Ministry of Education is constantly collaborating with our community members and stakeholders to further improve and make the best investments in child care,” said Patrice Barnes, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Education and Member of Provincial Parliament for Ajax. “This funding for the École élémentaire publique Ronald-Marion will allow them to build a child care space, which will relieve some of the pressure on parents and ensure their children receive the best care possible in a licenced setting.”

“Our government is investing $14 billion over ten years to build new schools, improve existing facilities and create child care spaces to ensure young people can reach their full potential,” said Stephen Lecce, Minister of Education. “By building the new state-of-the-art child care centre addition at École élementaire publique Ronald-Marion, as well as investing in tutoring and mental health supports for the year ahead, we are getting students in Pickering back on track now and well into the future. While we make progress building this child care centre addition at École élementaire publique Ronald-Marion to support hard-working parents, we remain committed to keeping students in more normal classrooms with extra curriculars, sports, and clubs.”

“Under Premier Ford’s leadership, we’re building more state-of-the-art schools to support the needs of Ontario’s students, families and growing communities. By investing in innovative and modern learning spaces, we’re ensuring students have access to the quality education that will provide them with lifelong skills and education in a safe and healthy environment,” said Kinga Surma, Minister of Infrastructure. “These investments are one of the ways we’re delivering on our promise to build Ontario, with an infrastructure budget of more than $148 billion over the next decade.”

“I would like to sincerely thank the Ministry of Education for its support. This project demonstrates the strength of collaboration between our school board, Les Lucioles Child care Centre and the government, to better serve our growing French community in the Durham Region,” said Kristine Dandavino, School Board Trustee.

Highlights of the project include:
• 49 new child care spaces
• 3 new child care rooms

École élementaire publique Ronald-Marion is located at 2235 Brock Road in Pickering.

Quick Facts:
• 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.

• Through the COVID-19 Resilience Stream of the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program, the governments of Canada and Ontario are providing $656.5 million in funding for critical infrastructure projects to protect students and staff from COVID-19 in the province’s schools.

• For the 2022-23 school year, the province is providing school boards with $1.4 billion in funding to revitalize and renew aged building systems and components.

• In March 2022, the Governments of Canada and Ontario signed a $13.2 billion agreement that will lower child care fees in stages for families, delivering an average of $10 a day child care by September 2025.