Province restores multi-year grant funds
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Updated: September 03, 2009 11:08 AM
The provincial government said Wednesday it will honour all three-year community gaming grant commitments, reversing letters sent out Friday to groups stating there would be no funds coming for 2009.
The Mission Folk Music Festival Society was one of the local groups which had a three-year agreement, and according to artistic director Francis Edwards, the form letter they received Aug. 28 stated they wouldn’t be getting their 2009 allotment.
Edwards, currently in Denmark, told The Record Wednesday afternoon via e-mail that he hadn’t received a confirmation of funding letter by press time.
“It’s difficult to know what to say. The word from the government changes so fast it is hard to keep up. It is all confusing in the extreme,” he wrote in an e-mail. “With regards to gaming money, the message is clear. The money belongs to community charities, not the government.”
Maple Ridge-Mission MLA Marc Dalton said these three-year grant commitments will be phased out, requiring groups to apply every year.
Housing and Social Development Minister Rich Coleman said Wednesday he got approval at the morning cabinet meeting to use contingency funds, so the budget for grants to community groups ends up slightly higher than last year.
Coleman was under fire in the legislature Tuesday for the move, as opposition critics pointed out that some organizations had already spent the money based on government assurances. Some were talking about a class-action lawsuit, because they had previous letters in hand giving a three-year commitment.
- with files from Tom Fletcher
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