The Ontario government announced Wednesday it will add $20 million to help build Ottawa's new Congress Centre.
The Congress Centre will be demolished in September and replaced by a state of the art facility by 2011 which is expected to be the fourth largest in Canada.
"Over the last five years, the Ottawa Congress Centre has had to turn away 2,500 events because of limitations on this existing facility," Ontario Tourism Minister Peter Fonseca said during the announcement.
The $20 million in new funding brings the Ontario government's total contribution for the new facility to $50 million.
The federal government is expected to match provincial funds for the Congress Centre, leaving the City of Ottawa to come up with a $40 million shortfall.
The City has agreed to put forward the funds under certain conditions which Congress Centre officials say they have now met.
Ottawa Mayor Larry O'Brien says council will make a decision on the conference centre funding sometime next week.
"I expect, absolutely, the vast majority of council will be in support of this wonderful project," O'Brien told reporters after the announcement.
Congress Centre officials say they are confident funding from all three levels of government will come through and are already taking bookings for the new facility which isn't set to open for another three years.
With a report from CTV Ottawa's Aliya Jiwan
