St. Anthony’s School in Kincardine receiving funds for expansion

As part of Ontario’s ongoing efforts to build and improve local schools, the province provided the Bruce-Grey Catholic District School Board with approval to award the tender for construction of an eight-classroom addition and a four-room child care centre addition at St. Anthony’s School. This will be supported by an investment of over $13 million.
The classroom and child care additions will provide more student spaces in a new, quality learning environment for the growing student population in Kincardine, and deliver safe and affordable child care for working families. This project is part of the province’s Capital Program to support students with better learning spaces.
“The funding for an eight-classroom addition and a four-room child care addition at St. Anthony’s School is great news for our community,” said Huron-Bruce MPP Lisa Thompson. “This investment will ensure families and students have access to a quality learning environment for years to come.”
Ontario’s investment in new and updated schools will create the foundation for a modern learning environment for thousands of students across the province.
“After a decade of school closures under the previous government, Ontario is once again building state-of-the-art learning centres with modern ventilation and safety top of mind,” said Minister of Education Stephen Lecce.
“By creating new student spaces and expanding child care opportunities at St. Anthony’s School, our government is responding to the needs of Kincardine families and helping to prepare students for lifelong success.”
The Ontario government has allocated more than $600 million to support ventilation improvements in schools across Ontario as part of its plans for a safer return to school. The Bruce-Grey Catholic School Board has benefited from an investment of over $329,000 for ventilation improvements and has 57 HEPA filter units in place.
Highlights of the project include:
·      190 elementary student spaces
·      78 child care spaces
·      Four child care rooms
·      New gymnasium
“This investment by the Ontario government is a key piece to improving St. Anthony’s School,” said Lori Di Castri, Chair of the Board for Bruce-Grey Catholic District School Board. “With the population growth we’ve seen in Kincardine and the surrounding area, St. Anthony’s has continued to be a large part of the community, but has been over capacity for some time. We have seen students and staff find unique ways to use the current space and this planned construction will open up many new opportunities. Investing in our Catholic schools is an investment in our students and in our community. We look forward to strengthening Bruce-Grey CDSB’s partnerships with the community and our students as we help build an even better learning environment.”
St. Anthony’s School is located at 709 Russell Street in Kincardine.
On November 4th (2021), the province released the 2021 Ontario Economic Outlook and Fiscal Review: Build Ontario. The plan lays out how the government will build the foundation for Ontario’s recovery and prosperity by getting shovels in the ground on projects like new schools and child care.  Since 2018, the Ontario government has invested over $1.5 billion in capital projects in education, including 76 new schools, 75 additions and renovations to existing facilities and 4,908 new licensed child care places.
For 2021-22, the province is also providing school boards with $1.4 billion in funding to renew and maintain existing schools.
The federal and provincial governments are also providing $656.5 million in funding for critical infrastructure projects to protect students and staff from COVID-19 in the province’s schools through the COVID-19 Resilience stream of the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program.
In addition, the federal government provides 2.5 per cent of the total cost support for early learning and child care operating expenses in Ontario, with Ontario families, the provincial and municipal governments providing the remainder. Ontario is providing a 20 per cent enhancement of the Childcare Access and Relief from Expenses (CARE) tax credit for 2021. This will increase support from $1,250 to $1,500 per family, on average, providing about $75 million in additional support for the 2021 child care expenses of over 300,000 families.
The province has also provided emergency child care for the school-aged children of frontline workers, including public safety and health care workers, as well as those working with vulnerable populations, at no out-of-pocket cost. In 2021, at its peak, this program provided over 12,000 children with high-quality child care each day across 717 sites province-wide.
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