Feds provide $100M for MUN's new core science building
Memorial University is receiving $100 million from the federal government to complete the new core science building on its St. John's campus.
That money was originally coming from the Newfoundland and Labrador government, which will now contribute $25 million to the project. .
Minister of Public Services and Procurement Judy Foote said at a news conference Thursday that getting funding for this project was particularly important to her.
"For me it was part of our university. We only have the one university, and we need state of the art buildings here," she said.
"In addition, we need to support our scientists, we need to support our students, and this will do all of those."
Building 'on track' to open in 2019
MUN President Gary Kachanoski said the building initially wasn't eligible for funding from the New Building Canada Fund, but Foote "made it happen"
Construction on the facility started last fall and Kachanoski said construction was "on track" for it to open in 2019. He said the foundation is almost complete and several tenders are closing Thursday afternoon.
The $325 million project will house the departments of biochemistry, biology and chemistry, in addition to electrical and computer engineering.
MUN President Kachanoski says the building's foundation is almost complete, big tenders closing this afternoon. <a href="https://t.co/Xe6fBz3f9Q">pic.twitter.com/Xe6fBz3f9Q</a>
—@LauraHowellsNLMoney for science grants, scholarships
Foote also announced $6.8 million in grants and scholarships for scientists at the university
"For so long we've had scientists who've been saying they've been muzzled, they couldn't speak out publicly, very little money going into science," she said.
"That's not where we are. We believe in science. We believe in evidence-based decision making, and that comes from science."
Memorial University will face a $26.5 million budget shortfall by 2019/20, and was provided no money for deferred maintenance projects in this year's provincial budget.
In May, Kachanoski said the university urgently needs $25-30 million to replace its animal care centre, and has submitted a proposal to the federal government for help.
Foote would not make any commitments, but said her government is looking at a number of applications, both from MUN and the College of the North Atlantic.