ARICHAT: Despite pledging to push the federal and provincial governments to fund individual tourism developments throughout Richmond County, municipal officials received an angry reaction Monday evening for their decision to withdraw from a multi-million-dollar county-wide tourism strategy
Councillors voted 3-1 at their regular monthly meeting in Arichat to abandon a deal reached in 2014 that would have seen the federal Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA), the provincial government and the municipality each contribute $2.2 million towards a three-pronged tourism initiative.
As a result, Richmond’s interim Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), Maris Freimanis, confirmed that the municipality will return $246,768 of the project’s unused funds to ACOA, with this figure representing the remainder of a combined $844,000 advanced to the county by ACOA and the provincial government.
At the same meeting, Freimanis and Richmond Warden Brian Marchand announced that their recent meetings with ACOA officials have left them with the option to re-launch the application process to seek funding for individual elements of the original tourism plan, which was approved by council last May but then delayed following a second council vote in November. Both men told Monday’s council meeting that ACOA’s Strait area office account manager, Karen Malcolm, has been asked to assist with the processing of these applications over the coming weeks.
“Karen’s going to try to ensure that all the applications are complete, and if they’re complete, they say that within four to six weeks, they should be able to turn around a decision,” Marchand explained. “There will be a similar application form for all the projects, and they’ll decide whether they’re getting the funds or not.”
The lone dissenting voice in Monday’s vote, councillor Alvin Martell, expressed skepticism that ACOA would speedily process the new tourism funding applications and was disappointed with the concept of “leaving $4.4 million on the table.”
However, Marchand, Freimanis and Deputy Warden Jason MacLean each suggested that the original tourism strategy was fast-tracked without the proper supporting documentation, adding that the municipality would struggle to put $2.2 million into the project, particularly if initial cost overruns reported by Freimanis in January continue to push the initiative’s price tag higher.
“I’m not trying to insult anybody by saying this, but when it [was announced] in 2014, I believe that this was an irresponsible decision that was made at the time,” MacLean told the council session. “I don’t think we’re squashing this – I know it’s a tough pill to swallow and council is not trying to disrespect all the work that has gone into this, because people have put a lot of time and hard-earned hours into making this thing happen.”
Four representatives of the St. Peter’s share of the project used such words as “disappointing” and “disgraceful” to describe council’s decision during the public question period. The chair of the St. Peter’s Economic Development Organization (SPEDO), former municipal councillor Clair Rankin, suggested that council may have been out of order in dismissing the terms of last May’s favourable motion after spending some of the funds connected to the decision. Marchand pledged to investigate Rankin’s claim.
Denise Martell, hired as a tourism consultant by SPEDO earlier this month, said she and her colleagues are willing to return to the table with Richmond officials but challenged them to “provide some leadership” and commit to funding tourism development throughout the county.
“Be prepared – we’re coming back,” she declared.
“Whether you want to acknowledge it or not, for Richmond County, tourism is your economic development. That is where your entrepreneurs are going to come in, that’s where we’re going to drop people into our area so we can have [a] greater economy – that’s it.”