Manitoba gets fair share of Canada 150 cash

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 15/10/2017 (3080 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA — Manitoba has received a fair share of the nation’s birthday money, according to Canada 150 data released last week.

This summer, the Free Press reported that Manitoba — and the rest of the western provinces — received far less per-capita funding than the national average.

But updated data show that community-level grants to celebrate the Confederation milestone gave Manitoba a generous 3.83 per cent of the $61,233,089 fund, slightly higher than the province’s 3.63 per cent share of the population.

The province also did well in the amount of requested funding it received. Bureaucrats gave the green-light to 20 of 98 funding applications from Manitoba, and 22 per cent of the $10.7 million funding requested, well above the 15 per cent average for all provinces and territories.

That amounts to $1.82 for every man, woman and child, used for activities ranging from school mural projects to a Métis festival. About half the projects took place outside Winnipeg.

The data, provided by the Canadian Heritage department on Oct. 12, include almost all community-level spending from the Canada 150 Fund, as projects were announced over the summer.

Previously released data included so-called “Signature projects” which had loose connections to the province. They included a travelling art installation launched by the Winnipeg Art Gallery, and a CBC mini-series in French that had 10 Canadians re-create a colonial ship crossing from France to Quebec City.

That project was categorized as a Manitoba project because it was co-produced by Winnipeg-based firm Les Productions Rivard.

The new data also exclude the $1.5 million spent on opening and closing ceremonies at the 2017 Canada Summer Games in Winnipeg.

Winnipeg South MP Terry Duguid said he’s glad his government put Manitoba in the middle of the pack. “That’s where we are geographically,” he quipped.

He also said the Games funding was a draw for tourists, and even the prime minister. “In our 150th year, that was a very special honour, and a very special allocation of funds.”

The territories and Prince Edward Island had much higher per-capita funding, giving their small population. If any province was shortchanged, it was likely Ontario. That province’s funding applications faced the lowest success rate in the country — with just 11 per cent of the requested funding granted — and its $1.13 per-capita amount is half that of Quebecers.

Data released in June showed that Manitoba also did well in its share of Canada 150 infrastructure funding — a separate fund that yielded the province just under $7 million for projects like refurbishing curling halls and expanding community centres.

Of the infrastructure spending nationally, Manitobans secured 4.63 per cent of the fund, more than a fourth above a per-capita share.

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca