Sask. gov't says funding dispute could affect cultural projects in Saskatoon and Regina

The government of Saskatchewan says a dispute over a transfer of public transit dollars could affect plans to upgrade three community projects in Saskatoon and Regina.

The minister responsible for SaskBuilds, Gord Wyant, says money to improve Regina's Globe Theatre, Saskatoon's Gordie Howe Bowl and Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan site could be in jeopardy.

"It is quite likely that the province would not fund the projects without the federal government reallocating the funding, as they committed to do," Wyant said.

"My conversations with my cabinet colleagues so far is that we want to see this reallocation so that there is still funding for the rest of the province. It obviously impairs our ability to fund any other projects if that does not happen."

Last October, the government of Saskatchewan and the federal government signed a bi-lateral agreement called Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program (ICIP). It provides $896 million toward projects in the province to 2028.

The ICIP has four streams:

• Public Transit Infrastructure – $307.9 million
• Green Infrastructure Stream – $416.3 million
• Community, Culture and Recreation Infrastructure – $56.2 million
• Rural and Northern Communities Infrastructure – $115.9 million 

A letter dated Aug. 2 was posted on Premier Scott Moe's social media pages on Tuesday and was signed by Saskatchewan cabinet ministers Wyant and Warren Kaeding and was addressed to Regina Liberal MP Ralph Goodale.

Wyant said the province wants Ottawa to approve a transfer of funds from the transit stream for the three projects in Regina and Saskatoon. It estimates the project total is $51.9 million. The province said this would eat up the majority of the funds available for the Community, Culture and Recreation stream, with nine years remaining in the arrangement.

However, the $51.9 million would not be solely covered by the province; the federal government would cover 40 per cent of the cost to projects in the CCR stream, leaving money left over for other projects.

Wyant said the province is "perfectly comfortable" with the CCR funds being used to cover other projects outside of the two cities. 

"It was the projects in the city of Regina and Saskatoon where we wanted to see the funds transferred from one of the other streams," Wyant said.

"Without a reallocation of funds from the transit stream to the community, culture stream, it effectively takes all of the money out of the cultural stream, which prevents us from funding other projects from around the province," Wyant said.

None of the projects have received federal approval.

Goodale calls Sask. position 'unfortunate'

Goodale took to Twitter on Tuesday to clear up the provincial claim that "all of the money" would be used up.

As Goodale points out, $35 million in federal dollars would be available for other projects for the next three years. 

Under the terms of ICIP agreement, transferring money from one stream to another was prohibited for three years.

Goodale said Tuesday the provinces came back to the federal government asking if money could be transferred between streams sooner. The federal government decided to allow public transit funds to move to the green stream and rural stream in the short term. Transferring funds from one stream to the community stream would not be possible for three years. 

Goodale said the purpose of the infrastructure fund is "largely environmental" and that is why there is less money in the CCR stream.

"There's enough federal funding in that fund to cover every eligible culture, community, recreation project identified by the province so far. And there is enough money in that fund also to cover what Regina has been advocating for, which is the two swimming pools," Goodale said.

Wyant said the federal government wanted the two Regina pools added to the province's list of 20 projects it submitted in June but the province doesn't consider them priorities over decommissioning landfills and expanding water treatment systems.

Goodale called the provincial government's argument "artificial". 

"I think it's unfortunate. Without this federal commitment, these projects would be impossible to undertake. The Government of Canada is going to be the major contributor to every single project."

Goodale said the province of Saskatchewan did not ask for proposals until March, five months after the agreement was signed. He said Saskatchewan did not submit applications until July 12. He said the federal government had "heavy lifting" in the month of July to evaluate the applications from all of the provinces.

Pen pals

Wyant and Kaeding have been busy penning letters to the federal government over this pile of infrastructure money. The pair sent a letter to federal minister of Infrastructure and Communities Francois-Philippe Champagne on July 25. Four days later, Moe posted the letter on social media, which led to a response from Champagne, who rejected the premier's claim that there were any delays in project approvals.  

Moe accused Ottawa of delaying infrastructure projects worth $200 million from starting this construction season.  

Champagne tweeted, "Premier, there are no federal delays. My officials received your projects 17 days ago, most with start dates Fall 2019 or later. Program details are clear since we signed the deal in Oct 2018. I approve projects after our respective officials finish due diligence, not before."