Feds await arena pitch; Funding requires
written proposal
Jordan Press
Local News - Tuesday, July 10, 2007 @ 00:00
Kingston's mayor says he's confident the city will receive federal funds for the downtown arena by this fall, even though city officials have not yet submitted a formal proposal to obtain the money.
A spokesperson for Lawrence Cannon, federal minister of transport, infrastructure and communities, said the federal government was willing to consider a funding proposal, but procedure requires that one be put in writing.
"We've never received a project proposal for this," said Natalie Sarafian, Cannon's press secretary.
Ministry officials review every application that comes in to see if there can be any funding for a project. Sarafian said one could be sent in at any time with or without a specific program in place from which to draw the funding.
This summer, the federal government will meet with provinces and territories to finalize the eligibility criteria for an grant program announced in the 2007 budget.
Included in the talks will be how to use public-private-partnerships to pay for projects. Sarafian the program could be rolled out in the fall.
The Building Canada fund has $572 million set aside for recreational projects in 2007 and about $8.8 billion over the next seven years.
Once the fund's parameters are set, the city would have to apply for the $4 million in funding it seeks for the arena, then hope Ottawa approves the application, said Mayor Harvey Rosen. He said the federal government has noted it will look favourably on the application.
"Nothing is guaranteed," Rosen said. "I don't pretend that there are any guarantees of anything."
At the groundbreaking ceremony at the arena site one year ago this month, Rosen said requests for federal funding would "bear fruits in the coming months." He added at the time he expected money by the end of 2006.
That didn't happen.
"The government is moving very slowly on this," Rosen said. "I don't think there's much doubt on that."
He stopped short of criticizing the Conservatives, saying he didn't want to hurt the city's chances of receiving the money.
City officials tried to persuade the government to give Kingston the money without going through a particular funding program, but to no avail, Rosen said. He wouldn't say what the city had proposed, saying it "would not profit us" to second-guess the government's decision.
Commissioner of growth Cynthia Beach said the city hasn't submitted a proposal to the federal government because Ottawa said there wasn't any program for which the arena qualified. Instead, letters have gone back and forth between the city and the ministry, Beach said.
If the ministry wanted a proposal, the city could have one ready within a week, she said.
It has been more than a year since the city received a short letter from the federal government saying it was "considering a request" for funds to the now $46.1-million project.
The letter came to the mayor's office the night council voted to proceed with the project. In it, Cannon wrote the project "will receive federal consideration if it passes the vote ... and obtains provincial support."
The day before the letter arrived, the province announced its support of $4 million for the arena and, on May 30, 2006, city council voted to proceed with the project.
The federal letter was not a guarantee. Sarafian said the letter only said the federal government would consider a funding request.
Rosen said he has had only one face-to-face meeting with Cannon since council approved construction. The meeting happened in Ottawa at Cannon's office, but the minister was busy and could only speak for a few minutes before leaving, Rosen said.