Simcoe-Grey MP Helena Guergis was in Collingwood recently to announce that the Pretty River Academy will receive a provincial and federal cheque in the amount of $253,227 under the Recreational Infrastructure Canada Program and Recreation Ontario. The private school will use the funding to buuild a soccer field.

The funding announcement has triggered various responses from Collingwood residents, including Lorne Kenney. Mr. Kenney questions why this funding would be awarded to a private school, and why the Town of Collingwood would support such an application. Here is Mr. Kenney's letter:

The irony is so cruel. In one recent front page story of the Enterprise Bulletin we see Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Georgian Triangle receiving $150,000 over three years from the Trillium Foundation, an agency of the Government of Ontario. It is such a worthy charity, doing such important work with disadvantaged and at-risk children and families. It will make excellent use of every nickel. Hurray for them and for the Trillium Foundation.

I invite readers to contrast that with the front page story a week earlier of federal and provincial grants in excess of $500,000 to Pretty River Academy, all received in one lump sum this year, to build a deluxe soccer pitch. Where? At the far far end of town, almost at Craigleith. And for whom? Why none other than the soccer enthusiasts from among the 156 sons and daughters of relatively well off members of our community attending the PRA. As the old rural saying goes: “Them that has, gets.”

And who comes to present the cheque to Big Brothers Big Sisters. Nobody! No fanfare. And who presents the cheque to the swells at Pretty River Academy? None other than our inglorious MP, Helena Guergis.

Now, I have nothing but respect for Pretty River Academy and I hold Roberta Murray Hirst, Abby Stec and the others there in high regard. But it is a PRIVATE school they are running. Under no circumstances should it be receiving public funds for any purpose, academic or recreational. For them to get so much for this “Wembley Stadium of the North” is a complete travesty.

The suggestion this will somehow be a quasi-public facility is patent nonsense. Sure, it may be opened to organized soccer teams on certain terms. But this will be private property, subject to the Academy’s control. It reminds me of the idea that the lush lawns of Upper Canada College could be made available to kids from Regent Park. Noblesse oblige, don’t you know.

So just how insensitive is an MP who would show up to hand out the cheque when the result is so patently absurd? Sadly, there may not be a scale that reads that high. For Ms. Guergis to pompously go and present the cheque and then seek to portray it as a wise use of public money leaves me alternately gasping for breath and gagging in disgust.

Sadly I suspect this is a case where our federal government is saying that the children of we ordinary folk should “eat cake” (I write this on July 14, the anniversary of the French Revolution). Not for you the luxurious grounds that $500,000 of your parents’ taxes can buy!

This is all very improper. I am not advocating revolution but this situation is revolting. It calls for a return of the money by the Academy to be used for more deserving people and projects.

It is perverse that the long foreheads at Collingwood Town Hall both endorsed the Pretty River Academy application and simultaneously fumbled the ball in advocating for recreational improvements that might be enjoyed by ordinary townsfolk. Some local official needs a rebuke.

However, the real disgrace is upon the federal MP who is ultimately responsible. She didn’t just let it happen; she actually trumpeted the grant and thinks she can profit politically from it. For shame.

Lorne Kenney

A new citizens’ group has formed in reaction to recent federal and provincial grants to the Pretty River Academy (PRA) for a new soccer field.

Citizens for Public Infrastructure is being established to demand that public expenditures be confined to infrastructure projects that serve the whole community. Specifically, it seeks to restrict, limit or reverse the flow of taxpayers’ money going to private interests to build recreational facilities that are not in the public domain.

"These Pretty River Academy grants are so unreasonable, so totally contrary to good public policy, that it’s farcical. Something needed to be done”, said Lorne Kenney, the local resident who convened the Steering Committee. It met for the first time on Monday, July 27th in Collingwood.

Initially the group intends to gauge public dissatisfaction with the recent grants. Jared Singleton, a high school teacher who is active in student athletics and a founding member of CIP commented: “Our sense is that many people, in Collingwood, the surrounding community and beyond, are shocked and angry over these grants and want to express their feelings and opinions. We intend to enable that. If the groundswell is as strong as we believe, we’ll move forward to challenge the actions of our MP as forcefully as we know how. My personal view is that they call her fitness as a legislator into question.”

The group also noted that various efforts to obtain documents used in the application, the decision-making process and the actual details of the decision have not been forthcoming. All attempts have been rebuffed by government officials, with suggestions it will take an Access to Information appeal to pry them open for the public.

Said Al Truscott, a local resident and another founding member of the group: “This just makes things look worse for MP Guergis, if that’s possible. Now it looks like there really is something to cover up.”

In addition, the group has created an online petition.

"Federal and provincial governments have granted $523,000 to Pretty River Academy, a PRIVATE school in Collingwood, to build a soccer field for its 156 students. Applications by the Town of Collingwood for other more needed public recreational facilities under the same program were turned down. Taxpayers' money should not be used for this purpose.

The MP for Simcoe-Grey claims credit for the grants and argues it is a good use of public resources. The situation is farcical and needs to be corrected."

View Online Petition