Squabbles threaten church plans

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This article was published 04/02/2020 (2072 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA — A longstanding Osborne Village church fears its efforts to rebrand into a community-outreach hub could fall prey to squabbles between Ottawa and the Manitoba government.

Augustine United Church has operated since 1887, and has spent the past five years trying to convert into an outreach centre, daycare and gathering space under the name Augustine Centre.

The idea is to still hold church services with the congregation renting the sanctuary, while focusing on community work in its 1903 building.

“The spats that were going on between Ottawa and the province of Manitoba were really delaying our cause,” said board chairman Jeff Carter. “We are literally, at this point, hanging on the thread.”

Provincial grants have come through, city bylaw requests are finally underway, and the private sector has stepped up.

But federal cash remains elusive, after officially and unofficially asking Ottawa for $2 million since mid-2017.

“Our main concern right now is the federal government. We’ve had assurances and promises that money will be available to us, but we haven’t seen anything yet,” said Carter.

He fears the organizations involved — the church itself, Oak Table, and the Splash daycare program — will have to start taking on debt and cut into programming budgets if federal dollars don’t flow soon.

The church has an aging congregation and requires expensive upkeep, and so the groups involved came up with a plan. They want to renovate parts of the building to offer 92 daycare spots, expand the drop-in meal and warming-centre programs in the basement, and rent out the main sanctuary for events.

The area’s Liberal MP, Jim Carr, said he strongly believes in the project, and he’s been asking federal officials what funding programs it might qualify for.

“There are some definitional issues that have been discussed, and I’m just looking at all possibilities within infrastructure pools, within the government of Canada, that would be a good match,” he said.

Carr has also asked Central Services Minister Reg Helwer to consider matching funds for the project.

“I wouldn’t call it a dispute; it’s a matter of what priorities the government of Manitoba establishes for cost-sharing infrastructure projects with Ottawa,” Carr said. “We’re hopeful that the province will also put this project on its priority list.”

Manitoba signed onto Ottawa’s Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program in June 2018, after the agreement sat unsigned during a year-long dispute over funding for flood-channel outlet construction.

ICIP has provinces select projects and send them to Ottawa for approval, with both levels of government sharing costs. Carter said his group applied for $2 million shortly after Manitoba allowed ICIP applications this past summer.

A spokeswoman said Helwer is away this week, but noted Manitoba has received many ICIP requests.

“The province has a comprehensive approval process that includes consultation with external partners,” wrote the spokeswoman, noting this often involves Indigenous and municipal leaders. “This review takes time to complete and is important to ensure Manitoba is making strategic investments in infrastructure.”

Separately, the province has already earmarked $950,000 to help construct child-care spaces and demolish part of the basement. Ottawa has also forked out $100,000 for security of the child-care site.

Carter’s group had previously appealed to Ottawa in mid-2017; that was as Manitoba’s ICIP agreement sat unsigned for a year.

He would prefer the federal Liberals go around the Pallister government, as they did for a project down the road. “We hope that they’ll be able to infuse some funds directly into this enterprise,” Carter said.

“The longer we wait, the more tenuous our situation becomes… in terms of the ability to afford the building.”

A year ago, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced $2.8 million for Winnipeg Transit’s Fort Rouge garage, in a direct agreement with the City of Winnipeg that left out the provincial government. Ottawa has threatened to do more direct cash transfers to municipalities when provinces are reluctant to share costs; it’s unclear whether the Liberals want to make this a habit for community groups.

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca

Augustine Centre business case