Feds still figuring out province’s share of $100M Canada birthday pie
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Monthly Digital Subscription
$19 $0 for the first 4 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*No charge for 4 weeks then billed as $19 every four weeks (new subscribers and qualified returning subscribers only). Cancel anytime.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 22/06/2017 (2499 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
A week before Canada Day, Ottawa still doesn’t know how much birthday money it’s giving each province for Canada 150 community events.
Canadian Heritage data obtained earlier this month showed that Manitoba was allotted just $523,400 from the federal community-events fund — a $100 million pot of which $85 million had been spent.
The Free Press requested information on each province’s funding on June 7, and on June 14 asked for a breakdown of how many Manitobans had applied for funding.
Weeks later, a spokesman for Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly said the department is still combing through the data. “We don’t have a final breakdown by province available at this time,” Pierre-Olivier Hébert wrote Friday.
Earlier this year, a Quebec MP filed a formal question in Parliament, giving the government 45 days to answer how many Canada 150 applications were submitted, and where the money went by province and riding.
The government responded May 5 that the information was “not readily accessible” and would take longer to respond. “Extensive manual research would be necessary to provide a comprehensive response.”
Department sources say bureaucrats have spent hours compiling information on Canada 150 funding, which is published online alongside general grants with no distinct categories or keywords.
Though the government has given Manitoba just a half-percentage of its community-event spend, it gave the province an above-average share of infrastructure funding, which will repair community halls and build new splash pads. Manitoba also had an average share of the nation-wide “Signature” funding, on projects like the Canada Summer Games.
Last week, Joly hinted more money may be bound for the province.
“We are respecting our regional fairness,” she said. “Manitoba is very dear to our heart, and it will have its fair share.”
dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca
