Investing in Ottawa’s Future Through Three Scholarships 

In late 2025, I launched the Community Builders Scholarship – Rideau-Vanier, creating three $1,000 grants to support students pursuing careers in skilled trades and early childhood education. That means a total of $3,000 invested directly in students from our community. 

I created these grants because investing in our neighbourhoods is about more than roads, buildings, and public spaces. It is also about investing in the people especially in jobs where we have a serious shortage of workers, and where know we need a more specialized workforce.  

Two of the grants support students pursuing skilled trades, while one supports a student pursuing early childhood education. These may seem like very different career paths, but they have something important in common: Ottawa needs more people entering both fields.

Meeting Ottawa’s workforce needs

Across Ottawa, construction and skilled trades workers are essential to building and maintaining the homes, businesses, roads, transit infrastructure and community facilities that residents depend on. The federal Job Bank estimates that approximately 5,670 people currently work as construction trades helpers and labourers in the Ottawa region, with 85% of those workers employed in construction. It also reports that the region experienced a labour shortage in this occupation between 2022 and 2024. 

 At the same time, governments and employers are preparing for major investments in housing and infrastructure. In 2026, the federal government announced the Team Canada Strong initiative, a $6-billion effort intended to recruit, train and hire between 80,000 and 100,000 new Red Seal skilled trades workers over the next five years. 

 For me, supporting students who want to enter the trades is therefore an investment not only in their individual future, but in Ottawa’s future. 

 We need electricians, plumbers, carpenters, mechanics, and other skilled workers to build housing we need and maintain the infrastructure our city relies on. Part of our LRT woes are due to a lack of specialized mechanics who can repair and maintain our bus and LRT fleet. A scholarship can help remove one small financial barrier for someone who might otherwise not consider these well-renumerated fields.

Check out this op-ed from Councillor Carr: Transit Challenges: Buses and LRT – Marty CarrEarly childhood education is just as essentialEarly childhood education is just as essential 

Early childhood education is just as essential

The second priority of the scholarship is early childhood education. 

Anyone who has tried to find childcare in Ottawa knows that access remains a serious challenge. The City’s own 2025–2029 Child Care and Early Years Service System Plan estimates that Ottawa currently has only enough CWELCC-funded affordable childcare spaces to meet approximately 76% of demand for children aged 0 to 5. The City estimates that approximately 7,400 additional affordable spaces would be needed to fully meet demand. 

 Ottawa has also been directed to create 2,903 new CWELCC-funded childcare spaces between 2023 and 2026. But creating space requires more than physical locations. We need qualified early childhood educators to staff them. 

 The City’s plan identifies recruitment and retention of early childhood educators and childcare workers as a major priority. Sixty per cent of respondents to the City’s workforce survey identified recruitment and retention as a top priority, while the City notes that workforce shortages are a significant barrier to expanding access to affordable childcare. 

 ECEs do much more than supervising children. They support children’s development, create safe and nurturing environments, and allow parents to work, study, and participate fully in our community. This need is even more urgent for francophone families who rely on our daycare and school system so their children can retain their language. 

Why these three partners? 

I deliberately chose three organizations in Rideau–Vanier that are already doing important work to help people build their futures: École secondaire publique De La Salle, Collège La Cité and Maison Marie-Louise. 

 École secondaire publique De La Salle 

 De La Salle is an important part of our local Francophone education community. The school offers students opportunities to explore different pathways, including cooperative education and specialized programs that help students develop practical skills and prepare for life after secondary school. 

 Partnering with De La Salle allows the scholarship to reach young people at an important moment in their education, when they are beginning to think seriously about what they want their future careers to look like. 

I was very happy to present the cheque to Carole Myre, Principal of École secondaire publique De La Salle, last June. 

Collège La Cité 

 La Cité is one of Ottawa’s key institutions for specialized and career-focused education. It offers more than 140 college programs, including apprenticeship and skilled trades programs. Students can train in areas such as carpentry, electrical work, plumbing, industrial mechanics, and other in-demand fields, combining classroom learning with practical workplace experience. 

La Cité was therefore a natural partner for the skilled trades portion of this scholarship. Students who choose these careers are gaining practical skills that will be needed for decades to come. 

It was a pleasure to present the cheque to Christiane Matte, Director of Philanthropy and Alumni at Collège La Cité, last August. 

Maison Marie-Louise 

 For the early childhood education grant, I wanted to work with an organization deeply rooted in the community and in supporting families. 

 Maison Marie-Louise, located in Vanier, is a welcoming Francophone community organization that provides resources, support and accompaniment to families and individuals. Its work includes helping families experiencing financial difficulties, families settling into their first home, newcomers and families going through particularly challenging circumstances. Their mission is to support families in creating happy, harmonious, and nurturing homes. They do this by providing support to families facing difficult circumstances, offering parenting and family-focused workshops to help create positive and fulfilling home environments, and organizing free community events that promote inclusion, connection and a strong sense of community. 

 The organization also works with students and educational institutions, including La Cité, to provide opportunities for students to gain practical experience in a community setting. 

 Maison Marie-Louise represents exactly the kind of community-rooted organization I wanted involved in this initiative: an organization that understands the challenges families face and sees the value of education, support and opportunity. 

 I was very happy to present the cheque to Ginette Gratton, Director of Maison Marie-Louise last June, and on August 5, to meet Sarood Dallemand, recipient of the Community Builders Scholarship – Rideau-Vanier and a newcomer to Canada who is currently living in a shelter with her son but hopes to open her own home-based daycare one day. Good luck Sarood! 

As a municipal Councillor, I believe one of the most meaningful things we can do is connect the needs of our community with the potential of the people who live here. 

These three grants are one small way of doing exactly that: investing in students today so they can help build a stronger Rideau–Vanier and a stronger Ottawa tomorrow.