The Ontario government issued a press release yesterday, announcing the launch of a new initiative designed to help communities protect their part of the Great Lakes. The Great Lakes Guardian Community Fund provides grants to community groups for grassroots activities, such as cleaning up a beach or shoreline, restoring a wetland, or creating a coastal or riverside trail. Not-for-profit groups such as service clubs, environmental groups, and scout troops are eligible.
Applications for the first round of funding will be accepted until October 12, 2012. The program provides up to $25,000 per project for local actions to protect the Great Lakes and the streams that flow into them. Grants are available for projects in Ontario’s Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River basin and their watersheds.
Information sessions are being held in Toronto, Thunder Bay, Kingston, Windsor, and Cambridge, including one in Toronto on August 23 that is targeted to First Nations communities and organizations.
The government has announced this fund while soliciting comment on draft legislation on the Environmental Registry and long before passage of the proposed Act that might establish the Fund. While I believe the proposed Act is unnecessary, the announcement of the fund has sent a chill through the NGO community for those who might not like the draft Act, and is somewhat contemptuous of the consultation process. It’s a sad day when governments resort to this sort of tactic.
The government has announced this fund while soliciting comment on draft legislation on the Environmental Registry and long before passage of the proposed Act that might establish the Fund. While I believe the proposed Act is unnecessary, the announcement of the fund has sent a chill through the NGO community for those who might not like the draft Act, and is somewhat contemptuous of the consultation process. It’s a sad day when governments resort to this sort of tactic.