Winnipeg Free Press - ONLINE EDITION
Following the money
Let's see who got what from the federal recession-busting effort
By:
Mia Rabson
5/12/2009 8:40 AM |
Comments: 2
OTTAWA -- The home riding of Manitoba's senior cabinet minister appears to be the big winner in Canada's economic stimulus spending in Manitoba.
A Winnipeg Free Press analysis of the federal government's Economic Action Plan in the province shows more than $1.25 billion is being spent on stimulus projects in the province, everything from new roads and sewers to playgrounds, arenas, federal laboratories and university buildings.
Money is flowing in some form to all 14 ridings, but one riding sticks out when it comes to community-level projects like recreation centres and road improvements.
Looking at five stimulus programs where the projects are mostly beneficial to the local community, Conservative MP and Treasury Board President Vic Toews's riding of Provencher is the big winner.
Ottawa has announced 34 projects in his riding with a total spending commitment from all sources of $142 million. The federal commitment is $64.5 million, nearly twice the amount pledged in the runner-up. That is fellow Tory Merv Tweed's riding of Brandon-Souris with 29 projects and $35.1 million in federal funding.
The five programs included are the Infrastructure Stimulus Fund, Recreational Infrastructure Canada, the Communities Component, the Community Adjustment Fund and Cultural Spaces.
Other spending programs, such as those targeting infrastructure at colleges and universities, federal buildings, federal laboratories and national historic sites are included in the overall figures for Manitoba but were left out of the riding-by-riding comparison because most of the projects in those programs are not meant to benefit the local community alone.
Not every riding has a college or university or a national historic site, for example, and repairs and upgrades at such locations benefit not just the home riding.
As of Dec. 1, stimulus spending in Manitoba from all levels including federal, provincial and municipal governments and not-for-profit agencies, exceeds $1.25 billion for more than 300 projects. Ottawa's commitment thus far is in excess of $421.6 million.
Most of the money is being spent this year and next.
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced Wednesday in Winnipeg that 97 per cent of the stimulus funds are now committed.
Winnipeg NDP MP Pat Martin said it is "entirely too predictable" that the senior minister's riding is getting the most money.
But Toews's spokeswoman, Christine Csversko, said it's a "misrepresentation" to present Provencher as receiving so much more than other ridings.
"The joint decisions made by the federal and provincial governments regarding the approval of infrastructure projects (are) made on the basis of geographical location, merit, need and depending on the program, readiness to proceed," she said.
More than 80 per cent of the funds heading to Provencher come from the Infrastructure Stimulus Fund, the $4-billion marquee program of the government's Economic Action Plan. Projects there include the two biggest-ticket items funded under the ISF in Manitoba -- a $60-million overhaul of the Trans-Canada highway between Winnipeg and the Steinbach turnoff at Highway 12 and a $35-million rebuild of the Letellier Bridge.
Ottawa is picking up half the tab for both those projects and Manitoba is footing the other half.
Csversko said projects like the Trans-Canada reconstruction are like universities in that they do not just benefit residents in Toews's riding but anyone who uses the road.
The Letellier Bridge, crossing the Red River on Highway 201, is more than 55 years old and in 1996, engineers predicted it had at most a decade left in its lifespan. There have been weight restrictions and single-lane traffic allowances on the bridge for nearly five years now. It was set to be rebuilt in 1999 by the former Tory government in Manitoba -- in which Toews was a cabinet minister. But the NDP shelved the project when it took power that year.
While Toews's riding is receiving the most, there is no indication that only Conservative ridings benefited. Four Conservative ridings, all in Winnipeg, and including the riding of junior cabinet minister Steven Fletcher, are at or near the bottom of the pack and received less than $10 million from Ottawa for projects in those five local programs.
Conservative MP Rod Bruinooge's riding in Winnipeg South is receiving the least amount from those five programs. In total, Winnipeg South has five projects with a total price tag of $2.4 million. Ottawa has committed $695,000.
Bruinooge recently got to announce $54.7 million for the Waverley West arterial road construction, of which $18.2 million is coming from Ottawa.
That funding is from Ottawa's Building Canada fund, a program announced before the stimulus package. Some of the funds are being fast-tracked to aid economic recovery.
Manitoba's lone Liberal MP, Anita Neville, in Winnipeg South Centre, is second-last with $3.4 million for nine projects. Ottawa has pledged to spend $1.3 million in her riding.
"I'm disappointed," she said.
Neville said she has heard grumbling that too much money was flowing into Provencher.
"We have people coming to us for help with grant applications saying they may not bother because all the money is going there," she said.
Infrastructure Minister John Baird has insisted for months the stimulus programs were not being delivered on a riding-by-riding basis. Most of the programs are decided in negotiations with the provincial government. Some, such as the recreational program, required community clubs seeking money to apply directly.
The NDP's Martin believes that latter detail is likely one of the reasons community clubs in his riding haven't received any money from the Recreational Infrastructure Canada (RInC) money.
Martin's riding hadn't received any money under RInC until Friday, when, late in the day, Ottawa announced it was contributing $500,000 to the city's $5.6-million redevelopment of Central Park. The city approved the project in June 2008 but hadn't secured all the financing yet.
With Friday's announcement, Neville's riding is the only one without any RInC funding so far.
Martin welcomed the investment and said he's pleased the Central Park overhaul can proceed.
But he said his riding, which is the poorest in Canada according to Statistics Canada's measure of median family incomes, is in great need and more stimulus funding could have been a huge boon.
"The inner city is crying out for more green space and recreation facilities," said Martin. "The suburbs are doing just fine, it's the core area that needs a whack of catch-up money for recreation facilities."
Martin said while he doubts there is really much political interference at play in stimulus money, he thinks in the government's "zeal" to get the money out the door, it missed opportunities to do more with the infrastructure money than just give it to the people who got their applications in first. He said it's difficult for inner-city rec programs to compete with the parental involvement and volunteers available in wealthy suburbs.
"It's like it's stacked against the inner city," said Martin.
He also said with the government already promising lean years ahead to get the $56-billion deficit under control, it is going to be a very long time before any more money is going to flow again, meaning if you didn't get money now, you won't for several more years.
Martin said for a government that wants to get "tough on crime," providing more recreational opportunities in troubled neighbourhoods is as beneficial as any plan to throw youths in jail. Gary Grouette, president of the Freight House Community Centre on Isabel Street, said his main aim is to keep kids off the street. He hasn't applied for any grant money from Ottawa yet, mainly because most of his time is spent trying to keep the club's doors open.
"We don't have any support from the parents here," he said.
The club could benefit from new bathrooms and new doors, he said.
Fletcher, whose riding also didn't get any money from RInC, said Martin's riding hasn't been totally left out.
He noted the area just got an $8.8-million overhaul of the Cindy Klassen Recreation Centre, formerly the Sargent Park Recreation Complex.
"I would encourage one to look at the big picture over time," said Fletcher.
He also pointed out, in Martin's riding, a $5-million refurbishment of the Manitoba Centennial Centre, a $10-million new United Way headquarters, and $9.5 million to expand the Manitoba Children's Museum.
In the analysis of all five community-level programs, Winnipeg Centre ranks sixth out of the 14 ridings in terms of dollars spent ($46.8 million) and seventh in terms of federal dollars ($13.5 million) and number of projects (18).
Fletcher's riding has only four projects approved among the five community-level programs, with a grand total of $5.9 million and a federal investment of $2.5 million.
Fletcher, however, points out his riding saw a number of large projects under different programs such as the provincial/territorial base fund. They include the $140-million CentrePort project at the Richardson International Airport, the $25-million True North Mooseplex and an $11.3-million twinning of the Trans-Canada Highway through Headingley.
He said those projects weren't approved just because they're in his riding, but because they were good projects with big benefits to the economy.
Fletcher said picking here and there at projects, looking to see if someone got more than another, is not valuable.
"The action plan as a whole is not about micro items but the macro picture," he said. "We were facing a once-in -a-century financial crisis that is worldwide, and we did everything governments can do to ensure the country not only would survive, but would prosper."
mia.rabson@freepress.mb.ca
Manitoba Projects
Click here for a list of infrastructure projects in Manitoba, as compiled by the Winnipeg Free Press using the federal government’s online map and press releases.
The government has not provided a list of projects in each program, as requested, so some information may be missing.
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