Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of MACA. As indicated in my Member’s statement, Sport North is in an incredibly difficult situation due to the confusion and apparent inconsistencies in the application process. Specifically, some organizations are getting multi-year funding while others aren’t, and programs like Sport for Life and coaching and the CSOP were declined with no or limited resources or alternatives being provided by the SRC. Sport North had no choice but to appeal this SRC decision. They have been waiting for months and have gone through their cash reserves. In 30 days they’ll be out of money and unable to meet payroll.
Could the Minister please tell us, by signing their contribution agreement which would allow the approved $1.683 million minus the $149,000, which they’ve already received, to flow to them, which will allow them to meet their payroll and provide continued support to the territorial sports organizations, would Sport North in fact be forfeiting or undermining their appeal which is currently underway? Specifically, will it stop the appeal process?
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Minister responsible for Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Robert McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Sport North is actually encouraged to sign the contribution agreement for the $1.6 million. This is more money than they received last year. By signing this particular agreement, they’re not going to be giving up their right to obtain any additional funding related to other projects that might be available. It also would not affect the appeal process that they have submitted.
That is good news. Six areas in the Sport North application were denied funding. Three of these areas are critical programs; specifically, the coaching programs, the Canadian Sport for Life, and the Community Support Opportunity Program. Sport North are concerned that these programs were never completely assessed through the application process and don’t feel that they were provided comprehensive information on why they were rejected or what changes were needed to help the applications meet the SRC’s application criteria. Could the Minister please direct the SRC to provide detailed explanations to Sport North on why these different programs failed to receive funding, and what items or changes would be required so that these programs could in fact receive funding in the future?
The Sport and Recreation Council’s general manager met with all the partner executive directors between June 16th and 24th to provide verbal and written feedback on each of their applications. Then the general manager also met with the Sport North executive director and finance manager on June 16th. We can ask the SRC to review the unfunded applications one more time.
I’m sure that Sport North would appreciate that opportunity. I believe that there is still some money in the SRC budget, approximately $400, from what I understand. I also understand that the SRC puts some money aside for areas such as the Canadian Sport for Life, recognizing the importance of this program. Can Sport North resubmit applications for these programs to the SRC for funding, or is there no further opportunity for submissions during the 2011-2012 fiscal year?
The SRC did withhold some funding for applications that were not approved, and they’ve also had the opportunity to clarify most of these applications and will be providing information to all the partners on the funding process for them by the end of this week.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister for that response. I mentioned the appeal process in my Member’s statement. Appeals, regardless of the organization or structure, are usually heard by independent bodies, not by a group or body that the appeal is actually being filed against. This is not consistent with the appeal process utilized by the SRC. In this appeal process the appeal is heard and ruled on by the SRC itself. Further, the SRC has indicated that appeals can only be based on errors in process, not whether the process was fair or equitable to all parties.
In the case of this appeal, the SRC will be reviewing the Sport North appeal and will be making binding ruling but will not be considering whether parties were treated equitably. Some got multi-year funding while others didn’t. This is an odd process and doesn’t really sound like an open, transparent, or fair process. Sport North wants the right to be heard in a fair process. They would like an oral hearing with an independent person hearing their concerns. Would the Minister commit to working with the SRC to have them appoint a fair and independent person to hear and make recommendations on this current appeal?
Sport North will be advised by the SRC on the results of their appeal by the end of the week. The appeal won’t be heard by an outside person or panel. The appeal process is stated in the SRC investment guidelines that were available to all applicants during the application process and, granted, through this exercise that we’ve gone through, we realize that the appeal process can be approved and we’re looking at doing a review of the appeal process for the 2012-2013 funding cycle.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
