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Pretty River Academy Government Funding Debate
Hits CBC's "The National"
"Where is the stimulus money going" was the headline on CBC's web site. The federal government's awarding of grant money continues to grab headlines not only locally, but on the national stage. The National on CBC television has been running a series of interviews to investigate where the federal stimulus money is going and how the money is being presented in communities throughout Canada. The National has now extended its investigation to Collingwood.
The Pretty River Academy, a Collingwood private school, will receive a provincial and federal cheque in the amount of $253,227 under the Recreational Infrastructure Canada Program and Recreation Ontario which sees theprovincial government match the figure. That means the federal and provincial governments have granted $523,000 to the school. The funding will be used to build a covered soccer field with artificial turf for year-round use.
The funding announcement has triggered ongoing responses from Collingwood residents.
The news story grew legs when it became a topic for discussion on CBC's Ontario Morning radio program on Monday, August 10th. Ontario Morning, hosted by Wei Chen, provides information to listeners throughout Southern Ontario outside of Toronto, from Sarnia in the west to Cornwall in the east, to Parry Sound in the north, and to parts of the Upper Ottawa Valley.
Collingwood resident Lorne Kenney and Mayor Chris Carrier were both guests on the program.
Mayor Carrier told Chen that he wasn't sure why the Pretty River Academy's soccer field application was approved for funding. "It's difficult with the number of applications that went through to get all of the feedback on the various grants, but I'm sure the Pretty River Academy could shed some light on that, but I'm going to suggest that because they are a not-for-profit group, and propose a community facility where the community will have access to the facility I'm told through a reciprocal use agreement, as we know through the summertime when the kids are not in school that's when a lot of soccer is played, and in the evenings, so I'm confident that the strength of the relationship between the town of Collingwood and the Pretty River Academy, that we'll have such an agreement in place" Carrier added.
Lorne Kenney has been the driving force behind the formation of Citizens for Public Infrastructure, a local citizen's group 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. (View online petition)
"This is something that has just touched the third rail of the public's consciousness here in Collingwood and I suspect that it will resonate throughout the province and perhaps across the country, the notion that public resources would go to a private school, to build for 156 relatively privileged children a soccer field when we have plenty of them in the town" Kenney said in response to Chen's question as to why the online petition was created.
Kenney was right.
CBC television (The National) was in Collingwood recently to take a tour of the community, visit the outdoor rink/YMCA site, to meet with Pretty River Academy officials, visit the private school, and to talk to Kenney and other local residents to hear what they have to say about the government funding for the new soccer field awarded to the Pretty River Academy.
Click here to view the CBC news story - Post your comment to the CBC story.