Make or break word on Summer Games coming
The fate of the 2021 Canada Summer Games could be decided by a single provincial government announcement this afternoon.
All Niagara eyes will be on Henely Island where Ontario Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport Lisa McLeod is scheduled to address the news media.
As reported by The Standard Thursday, a 1:30 p.m. announcement is expected to be about longawaited joint provincial-federal funding for the Games.
If McLeod commits to fund the Games — including filing the appropriate submission with Infrastructure Canada — it will be up to the federal government to finalize approvals and release money that will allow construction of required venues to start.
If she doesn’t, with sand rapidly falling out of the Summer Games’ hourglass, the fate of the event will be an open question.
Show me the money
The Canada Summer Games Host Society is projecting a total cost for infrastructure to be about $98.8 million, with about $30 million coming from the province and $36 million from Ottawa. The balance has already been committed by Niagara municipalities.
According to information from Infrastructure Canada, the provincial government must make a funding submission through the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program (ICIP), a joint federal-provinical initiative. The federal government cannot unilaterally release funding. A province’s government must make a project a priority, which commits it to funding one-third of a project’s costs, before any other steps can happen.
An Infrastructure Canada spokeswoman said in an email that Ontario has been slow to make ICIP submissions.
“For over a year, we did not receive any projects from the Government of Ontario. We have always been willing to work with Ontario so that municipalities can build the projects their residents need,” said Pierre-Yves Bourque, director of communications for IC.
ICIP has several streams, including one for rural and northern communities and transit — both of which Queen’s Park has recently made more than 100 project submissions for.
The Summer Games, according to Bourque, falls under the community, culture and recreation stream. To date, the government of Premier Doug Ford has yet to open a submission through that stream for the games.
Why the urgency?
At issue is the need to begin building venues for the Games.
Without joint funding, construction, including the building of Canada Summer Games Park — a massive multisport facility at Brock University — has not begun.
Host society chief executive officer Barry Wright has said shovels must be in the ground by late fall in order for facilities to be ready for 2021.
The approaching end of the 2019 construction season is not the only potential hurdle for the Games. Organizers are also anxious for funding submissions to be made before the Oct. 21 federal election.
Once the election campaign officially begins in September, new funding approvals become a practical impossibility. No matter which party wins, it will take time for the next federal government to organize, meaning it would likely be months before funding for the Games could be received and approved.
A war of words
Ottawa has criticized the Ford government for not moving forward with the ICIP process. On Wednesday while in Niagara-onthe-Lake, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused the premier of “playing games” with infrastructure funding and putting the Summer Games in “jeopardy.”
Last week, however, Ford said a Summer Games announcement was coming soon, and after Trudeau’s Wednesday comment a spokeswoman in his office told The Standard an announcement would be made Friday.
What happens next?
According to Bourque, submissions for the Games by the province will be reviewed as soon as they are received “so investments can quickly follow.”
Local political sources said they are looking for an unambiguous commitment from McLeod to the ICIP funding process, so the Games can move forward on solid ground.
If that commitment is not forthcoming, it is unclear how the construction of Summer Games facilities will be able to start.