cityscape Federal Infrastructure Dollars Coming to George Brown and OCAD

George Brown will use their grant to help build an "Innovation Exchange."

The federal government is rolling out more recipients of the Post-Secondary Institutions Strategic Investment Fund, and two Toronto schools are on the list.

On Monday, MP Adam Vaughan and MPP Han Dong announced George Brown College is getting more than $15 million to expand its waterfront campus, adding an “Innovation Exchange” at the mixed-use Daniels Waterfront complex. Another event is set for OCAD University on Tuesday, where Vaughan will be on hand again to make a funding announcement at that school. Details on the amount of money OCAD will be getting—and what they’re using it for—have yet to be revealed.

The federal grant is aimed at “generat[ing] direct economic activity,” and George Brown’s plans for expansion fall in line with those goals, claiming the 1,800 students that will take classes in the new space will have access to training on “critical skills shortages in key sectors.”

The program will distribute up to $2 billion over the next three years to Canadian post-secondary institutions for “strategic” construction and maintenance. Past funding allocations have trumpeted the goal of equipping Canadians for “well-paying middle-class jobs of today and tomorrow”—and the latest round of announcements is another opportunity for the federal and provincial governments to promote some hopeful economy news in 2017.