Last month, the MRC approved almost a million dollars in projects out of the Regions and Rurality Fund (FRR).
Quebec policymakers understood calls for help from rural leaders in the late 2010s. At the end of 2019, as COVID-19 was first making people sick in Asia, Quebec was approving a new development fund through the National Assembly. The idea was to invest in rural areas where the population base is too sparse to generate the tax revenue needed to build community centres, improve arenas and baseball diamonds, support food programs, establish online service hubs and fund other community investment ideas that people on the ground saw a need for.
MRCs are tasked with managing the funding envelopes. This is a standard way for big governments to get money to the ground level – they provide funding envelopes, rules for dispersing it, and, usually, salary money to hire a fund manager, aka project coordinator. At the MRC, this liaison person is Sabrina Ayres, the socio-economic development coordinator.
Key to the true success of this funding program is that the money reaches community organizations on the ground. In the Pontiac, the MRC has a process that’s proving successful. Applicants were helped along the way to ensure their project applications explained the community needs well, and showed projected results. There were more applicants than money available, a good sign for the MRC office in that the program details were well communicated.
As the liaison officer reported to the Council of Mayors, unapproved projects aren’t simply canned. The MRC’s economic development team will continue to work with applicants who weren’t selected to find alternative sources of funding.
From Danford Lake to Rapides-des-Joachims to Bristol, and across the many ball fields in between, this public money is being put to good use.
Why Gatineau City has a similar fund to Pontiac—with some $1.6 million in the 2021 slate of projects—is another question entirely. This is where the ignorance from Quebec City is evident. Any part of the province that isn’t Montreal or Quebec City must be in that vast unknown called ‘the regions’. For community organizers who are making life better on the ground, the funding is underway. The results will prove the time is now to increase the FRR program funding, and significantly.
