New school to be named after former PM Mulroney
The OCDSB's newest elementary school near Mer Bleue will be named after Brian Mulroney, breaking the board's 2023 policy against naming schools after individuals.
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The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board's newest elementary school, set to open near Mer Bleue in the east end, will be named after former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney.
The naming breaks with a 2023 OCDSB policy requiring school names to be recommended by a committee and avoid individual names or politically partisan references. The policy suggests names honouring local features, Indigenous significance, or Canadian events and achievements.
Education Minister Paul Calandra announced the decision in a statement, describing Mulroney as "one of the most consequential leaders in modern Canadian history" and crediting him with strengthening Canada's economy, championing the French language, leading on environmental issues, and advancing human rights.
Mulroney served as prime minister from 1984 to 1993. He died in 2024. His legacy includes the Canada-U.S. free trade agreement, the introduction of the GST, privatization of Crown corporations including Air Canada, and his failure to bring Quebec into the constitutional fold. He was praised for opposing South African apartheid and negotiating the 1991 Canada-U.S. Acid Rain Accord.
The OCDSB has been under provincial supervision since June 2025, with Bob Plamondon as the provincially-appointed supervisor.