ONTARIO.- The Honourable John Baird, Canada’s Transport and Infrastructure Minister, and Salvatore Badali, Chair of the Royal Ontario Museum Board of Trustees, together with Dr. Marie Bountrogianni, President and Executive Director, Royal Ontario Museum Governors, announced today that the Government of Canada will provide up to $2.75 million from the Infrastructure Stimulus Fund to support the development of three new galleries at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM).

“Canada’s Economic Action Plan is ensuring that the Royal Ontario Museum remains a cultural treasure and a legacy of our province for decades of tourists and visitors to follow,” said Minister Baird. “As we enter the second phase of Canada’s Economic Action Plan, our government’s priority will be to continue with the rapid implementation of the remaining stimulus projects, like this, that help create and maintain jobs for Canadians.”

“By enabling the addition of three new permanent galleries, this federal investment will allow the ROM to bring hundreds of artifacts and specimens out of storage to public view, many for the first time,” said Mr. Badali. “The Museum and its many local and international visitors will greatly benefit from the enrichment of these new permanent galleries.”

The project involves building two new galleries into the Museum’s original heritage building – the Joey and Toby Tanenbaum Gallery of Byzantium and the Eaton Gallery of Rome – and refurbishing the Bat Cave, a perennial family favourite. The new galleries will display core collections in Western Culture and Natural History, adding 8,000 square feet to the ROM’s permanent public galleries.

This project is one of nearly 1800 across Ontario that will break ground thanks to close to $1.3 billion in federal funding under the Infrastructure Stimulus Fund.