Eodf_grants

Jeff Green | Nov 03, 2005

Home | Local Weather | Editorial Policy

Feature Article

. | Navigate | .

ArchiveImage GalleryAlgonquin Land Claims

Gray MerriamLegaleseGeneral information and opinion on legal topics by Rural Legal ServicesNature Reflectionsby Jean GriffinNight Skiesby Leo Enright

EODFgrants come with conditions

by Jeff Green

The Frontenac Community Futures Development Corporation (FCFDC) has handed out grants from the Eastern Ontario Development Fund (EODF) in recent days to community groups, businesses and municipalities in Frontenac County.

Recipients include a mural project in Sharbot Lake, historic walking tours in Sydenham and Sharbot Lake, a recreation project on Crown Land in North Frontenac, and many others.

The Frontenac CFDC is a Not-For-Profit Corporation, with a voluntary board of directors made up of business people and others from Frontenac County. It is funded entirely by the federal government, through Industry Canada. One of its functions is to provide advice and various kinds of supports to businesses within the County and to help them with financing.

It has also been given the role of distributing grant money from the Eastern Ontario Development Fund (EODF), another Industry Canada Initiative. In the current round of EODF, about $600,000 is being distributed to projects in Frontenac County. Industry Canada has laid out specific rules and categories about how this money is to be spent, and the Frontenac Community Futures Development Corporation had the job of soliciting applications and deciding which projects to fund.

Industry Canada has made it clear to the FCFDC that groups and individuals receiving money should have other money, or other partners in their ventures. So, the Oso Historical Society for example, the group behind the walking tour brochure in Sharbot Lake, will receive $1,200 towards the $2,400 cost of the brochure only if they can raise the rest of money by the end of the year.

The Sydenham walking tour will be supported to the tune of $4,500, but again only if those funds are matched dollar for dollar by the Sydenham Lions Club, who are the recipients of the grant.

The FCFDC has also approved a $10,000 grant to the township of North Frontenac to be spent developing a marketing campaign for recreational use of Crown Lands that the township manages. There are complicated conditions attached to this grant

In order to receive the $10,000, North Frontenac Township has been told by the FCFDC that they must enter into partnership with the Land O’ Lakes Tourist Association (LOLTA) on this venture.

Furthermore, the township was told it must submit an application to an Ontario government-granting program, known as OSTAR-RED, which happens to be administered by the Land O’Lakes Tourist Association.

OSTAR-RED works like this: members of LOLTA, such as the Township of North Frontenac, fill out a form and submit paid invoices for money spent on marketing. LOLTA submits those to the province and sometime later the applicant receives a rebate cheque for 40% of the total on the invoice.

In this case, that would mean $4,000 would be rebated to North Frontenac.

The Frontenac Community Futures Development Corporation has also said that if North Frontenac receives the $4,000 rebate, they must then donate the same amount, $4,000, to the Land O’ Lakes Tourist Association. The Land O’ Lakes Tourist Association can use this money as they see fit.

Before approving the $10,000 grant, the FCFDC asked for confirmation of this approach, including the donation to the Land O’ Lakes Tourist Association of the $4,000 rebate money, from North Frontenac Council.

At their meeting last Thursday, North Frontenac Council approved such a resolution. (see Frontenac CFDC oversteps it bounds)