NDP, Tories butt heads over women’s centre funding
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 24/05/2017 (2527 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Confusion reigned Thursday over the future of the North Point Douglas Women’s Centre.
The NDP claimed the Pallister government had just cut the heart out of the centre by ending $120,000 in funding.
The Tories accused the NDP of trading in “false assertions” during the June 13 byelection campaign in the traditional NDP stronghold of Point Douglas and said the centre continues to receive money from several government departments.
“I don’t care how the government is trying to spin this. I care about the women of Point Douglas,” MLA Nahanni Fontaine told reporters.
The centre’s executive director could not be reached Thursday.
Fontaine said the centre received a call Wednesday saying the $120,000 in funding had ended in February and would not be renewed. The centre is laying off people, said Fontaine.
“We’re talking about women’s lives that are dependent on these positions.
“Somebody’s confused,” Fontaine said. “If they ended in February, why are people only finding out yesterday?
“This is a massive hit to a small organization,” Fontaine told the legislature.
It took three cabinet ministers to respond.
“She’s weakening her credibility,” Premier Brian Pallister said. “She’s been making false assertions on a number of fronts.”
Rochelle Squires, the minister responsible for women, said she toured the centre recently and expressed her gratitude for the staff’s work.
“For 17 years, they tried to get a minister to sit around the table with them, to no avail,” said Squires.
Neither Pallister nor Squires addressed the funding.
“How many more women’s organizations is this premier going to cut funding for?” Fontaine asked.
The government assigned Indigenous and Municipal Relations Minister Eileen Clarke to scrum on the issue. She insisted the $120,000 was a one-time grant that has expired and that the women’s centre is receiving core and other funding from several government departments.
“It’s misinformation from the Opposition,” Clarke said.
However, Clarke could not give a dollar amount and could name only the education department as a funder. It’s providing $37,500 under the Healthy Child Initiative.
“They were not for ongoing programs, they were one-time grants. It has not been renewed,” Clarke said. “I did not award that project. There will be applications for new projects, but that has not taken place.”
Pallister’s office later issued a clarification Clarke is working on developing a new and more effective way to fund community programs.
nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca
