B.C. Budget 2010: Gaming grants battle, unions brace for bad news, property tax deferrals: Community groups ready for legal action
Thousands of community groups that normally pay little attention to provincial budgets will be keeping a watchful eye — and their lawyers at the ready — when the B.C. government tables its latest financial plan Tuesday.
At stake are tens of millions of dollars in government gaming grants that the charities and non-profits want restored. If they don’t get it, they’re threatening to take the province to court in an all-out war to reclaim the cash.
Government cut the grant money — at least $29 million — in its September budget update, as part of widespread efforts to slash spending in the face of plummeting provincial revenues and a projected $2.8-billion deficit.
Charities weren’t the only ones hit during the fiscal belt-tightening, and they are not alone in nervously waiting for more cuts to come in this budget.
…In Victoria, arts groups seemed particularly hard hit, with organizers of Victoria’s Fringe Festival, Ballet Victoria, the Victoria Symphony and the Victoria Film Festival warning of cutbacks or cancellations.
The B.C. government may restore some of the grant money, eventually, but it won’t say how much or when, until after the budget, said B.C. Housing and Social Development Minister Rich Coleman.
“It depends on how you measure the increase, but what I think is it will show we recognized the community gaming grants sector, as well as still taking care of the kids that need to be fed in schools, and the after-school counselling and the B.C. Arts Council,” Coleman told Kamloops’ Radio NL news station last week.
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