Province to invest up to $26M in new Centennial College facility for aviation programs

The former de Havilland aircraft manufacturing plant at Downsview Park will be transformed into a research and training facility in a partnership between Centennial College and Bombardier, the province said Tuesday.

The provincial government has committed up to $26-million for the project.

The plant will be renovated to provide a new classroom, workshop and hangar space. It will also include an innovation and research working group of industry leaders and academic partners.

But Centennial College still has to get final approval from the federal government before the project goes any further since the Government of Canada owns Downsview Park.

Premier Kathleen Wynne said it is a strategic investment.

“In this province, our aerospace industry employs approximately 22,000 people and has sales of more than $6.5-billion. We’re the second-largest aerospace jurisdiction in Canada.”

The Centennial College aerospace program currently has 383 students but the expanded program has room for 906 students, Wynne said, adding that it will fill a void in the aerospace sector.

“This is so important to Bombardier as their workforce is experiencing a generational shift.”

Fourteen of the top 25 aerospace companies in the world have operations in Ontario including Honeywell, Bombardier and Pratt & Whitney Canada.

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