Greater Sudbury Mayor John Rodriguez gave a thumbs up to a provincial NDP Communities at Play initiative that would provide $75 million annually to municipalities and local organizations to help with the costs of operating sports and recreation programs and improving facilities.
The Communities at Play program was introduced Tuesday, April 15 by NDP MPPs France Gélinas (Nickel Belt) and Rosario Marchese (Trinity-Spadina).
The Communities at Play program would provide $40-million in operating and $35-million for infrastructure annually, distributed through a streamlined, merit-based application process. All Ontario municipalities and community organizations would be eligible.
"The City of Greater Sudbury would welcome the active participation of the provincial government to support community recreation facilities and ongoing programming. Our existing recreational facilities are aging and our operational costs are increasing. We will have increasing difficulty addressing these needs unless we can find additional revenues sources. This NDP proposal would help to bring some much needed assistance on a long term, consistent basis," said mayor Rodriguez.
“The government talks about health promotion and the need for physical activities, but has offered only token levels of financial support for sports and recreation programs,”said Gélinas, the NDP critic for health promotion in a news release.
“We urge the McGuinty Liberals to support the Communities at Play proposal to ensure communities across Ontario can keep rinks, pools, and ski hills open, and add new recreation programs.”
“In Toronto, communities invested in school pools years ago,” said Marchese. “When McGuinty took control over these pools, he refused to honour the investment Torontonians had made. Now these pools are being closed,” he concluded.
