MP on defensive over Canada 150 spending

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This article was published 19/06/2017 (2501 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA — After giving Manitoba a meagre slice of funding for Canada 150 celebrations, Ottawa has allocated an above-average share of its anniversary refurbishment money for the province.

Information obtained from the federal granting agency for Western Canada shows Manitoba netting just under $7 million for projects like refurbishing curling halls and expanding community centres.

Divided by population, that gives Manitobans 4.63 per cent of the Canada 150 infrastructure spending, compared with its 3.63 per cent share of Canada’s population.

That’s more than a fourth above a per-capita share, and it puts Manitoba on better footing than the other western provinces.

Ottawa allocated the west $46.2 million for Canada 150 infrastructure projects this financial year, and plans to release the same amount for 2017-2018, though it hasn’t published a breakdown for next year. Both years are part of a $300 million fund for the whole country.

Projects already announced in Manitoba range from a $7,457 renovation to Legion branch 182 in Gimli, to $108,872 for a new splash pad in St. Pierre-Jolys.

Winnipeg South MP Terry Duguid said his Liberal colleagues made sure the birthday money went to communities across Canada.

He’s defensive about claims Manitobans were shortchanged by a separate fund meant for one-time events. Ottawa allotted $200 million for celebrations through Canadian Heritage, with half going to local community events. Of the $85 million already pledged to local events across Canada, the feds gave Manitoba just $523,400 — slightly more than half a per cent.

If weighted by population, that means Manitobans were allotted just one-sixth of a proportional share, with just 18 projects awarded. But Duguid sees it differently.

“While the opposition is saying the glass is half empty, I think we in Manitoba see it as overflowing,” he said. “I’m not feeling like we’ve been shortchanged at all.”

Duguid noted Manitoba came out with a healthy amount of the so-called signature projects, a separate Canada 150 fund for larger initiatives that take a national scope. Among them is the Canada Summer Games, which start July 29 in Winnipeg.

“We have the premier event of the year in our 150th year and it will have an enormous impact on our community,” he said, citing the Games’ own estimates. “The economic impact that we’re getting from the Summer Games is absolutely huge; it’s over $150 million.”

Bureaucrats still have $15 million to award for small-scale Canada 150 events, and the department didn’t say by Monday afternoon how many funding applications Manitobans had filed.

But Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly has hinted more money may be bound for the province.

“We are respecting our regional fairness,” she said last Thursday. “Manitoba is very dear to our heart, and it will have its fair share.”

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca