In Wednesday’s (9/2) Vancouver Sun, Jonathan Fowlie and Rebecca Tebrake report, “The B.C. government, facing furious public reaction, restored cuts in gambling-revenue grants made in the provincial budget and went one step further Wednesday. The total amount of grants now allocated to community and arts groups is about $12 million more than what was announced in February, Housing and Social Development Minister Rich Coleman said Wednesday. Coleman acknowledged that groups that had been promised three-year funding in writing and then were told their grants were cancelled had cause for complaint. Coleman indicated about $20 million in grants—$10 million this year, $10 million next year—would be restored to these groups. He said that an additional $30 million has also been approved to be handed out in grants during the current year, adding his ministry has seen an uptick in applications. However, Coleman said the government will end the practice of committing to grants for three-year periods, and will return to a year-by-year approach. … A wide range of grants provided $156 million to 6,800 charitable and community groups last year, including $40.5 million to 779 groups in Vancouver, among them the Trout Lake Little League, Vancouver Symphony Society and the Burnaby Canoe and Kayak Club.”
Posted September 3, 2009
