Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to announce that today marks the grand opening of Algonquin College's new $36 million waterfront campus in Pembroke.
Increasing enrollments and the requirement to update classroom and teaching facilities, as well as the need to provide accessible post-secondary education to students in the upper Ottawa valley, made the case for the college which has been serving the needs of students for 45 years.
As the member of Parliament for Algonquin College's Ottawa valley campus, it was my pleasure to work with my caucus colleagues, whose ridings included the Woodroffe and Perth campuses of the college, in providing the federal funding necessary to make this expansion go from a dream to a reality. That includes acquiring $3 million in federal government funding to ensure our new Ottawa valley college campus would be fully accessible to disabled students.
I congratulate college president, Dr. Kent MacDonald, the staff and the students. I hope they enjoy their beautiful new college on the Ottawa River.