Premier pledges stadium funds; Politics Graham makes commitment at Liberal dinner, mayor and MLA say, but details still being worked out

New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal
Sat Sep 5 2009

Premier Shawn Graham is on board when it comes to funding for the Canada Games Stadium refurbishment, say politicians who attended a Liberal dinner Thursday.They say Graham pledged the funds for long-awaited stadium upgrades during a dinner at the Lily Lake Pavilion.But a provincial spokesman says details are still being ironed out.

"He said we're going to participate in the Canada Games funding. So I guess you can take that to the bank," said Tourism and Parks Minister Stuart Jamieson, the MLA for Saint John-Fundy.Recreation leaders have been waiting for funding announcements for the $5.6- million upgrades for most of the summer. Saint John MP Rodney Weston pledged the federal government's $1.4-million share Aug. 19 with much fanfare, but local MLAs did not take part, saying they were still working on securing the funds. The city, the University of New Brunswick Saint John and Brunswick Pipeline have pledged the rest.

"This is a very complex file," said Bruce Macfarlane, spokesman with the province's Regional Development Corporation. "Everyone has been very patient on this. We are still working out the final details to make it happen." The original federal funds were supposed to come from stimulus dollars, but the project wasn't eligible because it was not for a new building. So now the province has to find money from another pot, Macfarlane said."We're well aware of everyone's timelines," Macfarlane said Friday afternoon. "However, we ask for patience. We're like a whisker away."

Mayor Ivan Court said he took Graham's pledge Thursday night as a promise."He announced the funding will be there," Court said. "He made it perfectly clear the money is there for Canada Games." That means the city will begin the construction process, with the aim of having upgrades ready for next summer's Acadian Games. "We're trying to move the tenders as soon as possible. We hope to get them out in the next week or the next two weeks," Court said Friday.

Jamieson said Graham was clear the money is on its way."He wanted to assure the crowd that we were going to fulfill that commitment, " Jamieson said, adding the premier has been actively involved in working out the details. "The premier has made the commitment for something we've been talking about over the last while, and he's confirmed that commitment."

Macfarlane said Graham and regional federal minister Greg Thompson, the MP for Southwest New Brunswick were meeting on the matter as late as Friday afternoon."When everything is signed, sealed and delivered, there will be a major, formal announcement made by the provincial government," Macfarlane said.
He could not provide details on how soon that might occur.

The stadium renovation project, managed by UNBSJ, will include a new eight- lane track, synthetic turf field, lighting and upgrades to the grandstand and stadium.

Another way to fund health care in Canada

Ottawa urged to get more active in funding sports facilities
JAMES CHRISTIE
Globe and Mail

As provincial and territorial sport ministers get ready for their trip to the Canada Games in Whitehorse this week, each will pack two things — a parka and a message for the federal government to get serious again about sport and physical activity.
"Like a lot of people, my perception is that it looks like a step back," Jim Watson, the Ontario Minister of Sport Promotion, said of the federal cabinet shuffle that knocked sport back from being a full ministry to a file being handled by a junior Secretary of State, Helena Guergis. She is already laden with the weighty portfolios of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.
Monday, the federal government put $5-million over two years into a revival of ParticipAction, the non-profit marketing program for physical activity, but that's nowhere near enough, Watson says.
The federal government is sinking more than $500-million into the Vancouver Olympics and inspiring kids to break the bad habits that have led to a rise in childhood obesity. But where will those kids get active, Watson questioned in an interview.
"A lot of our infrastructure at the grassroots level dates back to Centennial projects in 1967," he said. "Arenas are old and crumbling. In Ontario, 13 per cent of our arenas are 50 years or older. The ice plants are inefficient and there are environmental challenges. We need the federal government to be engaged. We had a [provincial and territorial sport ministers] meeting in September, and the feds didn't show up."
Big shows do figure in federal spending, he said.
Aside from the hundreds of millions going into the Vancouver Olympics, more than $30-million in federal money is going into the Canada Games, a domestic type of Olympics, Watson said.
"But we don't get that kind of investment in Ontario unless the province gets international games, and that hasn't happened since the 1930s, when Hamilton had the Commonwealth Games," he said. ". . . London [Ont.] did have the Canada Summer Games a few years ago, but we need more community-based facilities.
"I'm looking forward to the Whitehorse Games and to meeting the third federal sport minister in a year . . . and to impress on federal ministers that the government has been missing in action for years."
Watson said that after three decades of cutbacks in sport that pushed Ontario athletes to look for training in other provinces or U.S. schools, Ontario is getting back into the game.
The province has committed $40-million in the past fiscal year to refurbishing and building sport infrastructure, he said.