The Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario (Fed Nor) is allocating $39 million to help northern Ontario communities build, repair, and enhance local facilities.
This funding is part of the federal government’s $51 billion Build Communities Strong Fund, which focuses on infrastructure projects.
The $39 million for the Local Impact stream will be distributed over four years and was announced at the Canada Games Complex in Thunder Bay, Ont. on Tuesday by Thunder Bay-Superior North MP Patty Hajdu.
“We’re in the Canada Games Complex right now. It’s a perfect example of an older building that still has many years of life, but that likely needs some loving touches to keep those components functioning,” said Hajdu, who is also the minister responsible for Fed Nor.
“This is a building that many residents of Thunder Bay rely on for recreation, for community connection, for classes and just in general, it’s a very important piece of infrastructure to our community.”
The fund will enable organizations throughout northwestern Ontario to seek funding to either restore or maintain vital infrastructure in their communities, Hajdu noted.
“Lots of our buildings were built at around the same time, ironically, and so we’re seeing in northern Ontario, in particular, but certainly across the province and across the country, aging infrastructure that holds really important significance for communities,” Hajdu said.
“And often these communities are not-for-profit. They might be municipalities. They might be struggling with the fiscal capacity to be able to maintain these buildings. And the federal government is going to play a partnership role in that work.”
She mentioned that the goal is to ensure communities stay strong while also creating job opportunities for future trades workers.
“We have an opportunity through all this economic activity to ensure that construction continues in northern Ontario, that our Team Canada Strong plan, which is recruiting and training and hiring Red Seal workers all across the country, has got the work that we need in order to create those spots,” Hajdu said.
“So this is really kind of a program that is custom fit to the work that we’re doing as we build our entire communities in our country up.”
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Patty Hajdu, MP for Thunder Bay-Superior North and minister responsible for Fed Nor (middle) joins Ken Boshcoff, the mayor of the City of Thunder Bay (left) and Jessy Bogacki, the Canada Games Complex’s program supervisor of Adult Fitness, Wellness and Inclusion Services (right) for the announcement. (Nicky Shaw/CBC)
Jessy Bogacki, acting supervisor of the Canada Games Complex and program supervisor of Adult Fitness, Wellness and Inclusion Services agreed that it’s “super important” to maintain community hubs like the Canada Games Complex in northern Ontario for people going forward.
“Families grow up here. Kids start in camps and swimming lessons and they come here all the way to older adults maybe using our chronic disease management programs or joining some fitness classes [or] just enjoying a swim.”
“It’s a facility where you can spend your lifetime and I think that’s really important for individuals and families,” Bogaki said.
“This is a great opportunity for us to hopefully go forward with some funding opportunities.”
Eligible groups can apply online for new funding through Fed Nor.
“There’ll be an ongoing intake through Fed Nor and Fed Nor will be working with applicants to understand what their plans are what their project timing looks like [and] what their needs are,” Hajdu said.
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