By Pepper Parr
January 2, 2015
BURLINGTON, ON.
“This means that the $3 million provincial government contribution we announced November 10th will be leveraged to help residents who need it most..”
That is what MPP Eleanor McMahon said in a My View column she wrote recently. The statement leaves the impression that the province contributed $3 million.
They didn’t actually contribute that much – they will contribute that much if the citizens of Burlington raise $1.5 million locally.
The province’s commitment to the people of Burlington was to provide $2 for every $1 the citizens raised. They put a cap on what they would province – the cap was $3 million.
In order for Burlington to get $3 million from the province – the citizens would have had to raise $1.5 million locally. The fund raising team raised just shy of $1 million in a terrific 100 day drive. That amount of money has never been raised by the citizens of this city in such a short period of time before.
The people of Burlington are grateful for what they have been given by the province.
We would just like the province to be straight with the facts. They said they would provide up to $3 million on a two-for-one basis.
Note quite what the MPP said – is it?
What the MPP hasn’t said either is that early in October the province said they would not be providing any financial support. McMahon had to work the telephones big time to get that decision reversed. She earned the right to get re-elected for that effort – but she isn’t going to say that her government came close to sinking any chance of any Liberal being elected in this city if the disaster relief request had been denied.
The Legislature is in a holiday recess – they return February 17, 2015
