Collingwood BIA projects net $705K in federal funds

When Minister of Tourism and Associate Minister of Finance Randy Boissonnault came to Barrie this week to announce $14 million in federal funding to be spent on 45 different tourism projects across Simcoe County and beyond, the announcement didn’t come as a surprise to the Collingwood Downtown Business Improvement Area (BIA).

During Monday’s (Jan. 23) announcement, two previously announced grant amounts: $425,000 through the Tourism Relief Fund and $280,000 through the Canada Community Revitalization Fund, will be going straight to Collingwood BIA, to pay for downtown improvements such as new bike racks, gardens, public art features and downtown patio infrastructure.

According to Sue Nicholson, executive director with the Collingwood BIA, they were first notified of the funding back in 2022.

“When that notice came in... they knew in our office that something had happened but they thought it was something bad,” recalls Nicholson, with a laugh. “Rather than have to go into our reserves, it gave us the dollars to do these projects.”

The $425,000 through the Tourism Relief Fund will be going toward the gateway art project, formerly the archway project.

“Although it was a tense situation when council decided to not move forward with the arch project as we had hoped, we’ve turned that into a public art project. I think, in the long term, it’s very positive,” said Nicholson. “Not only will it give us something that will be a great asset to the downtown to encourage interest at that corner, but it also provides funding to artists.”

“They were decimated through the pandemic. The arts and culture sector have really taken a hit,” she said.

Other public art projects paid for through the grant were public murals, such as the mural adjacent to Northwood Club, as well as the art wrapping of public utility boxes. Some of the funding will also be used to expand the Discover Collingwood app.

“There are lots of opportunities to use those dollars,” she said, adding that the dollars were supposed to be spent by March however the deadline has been extended to September.

The $280,000 in Canada Community Revitalization Fund dollars are being used to implement parts of the Downtown Garden Master Plan, which was brought before council in full back in June 2022.

The funding is currently being used to add new garden features, tree guards to protect existing trees from sand/salt and putting in new garbage cans and benches that will likely be installed in the spring. New bike racks have already been installed, although they are removed and stored in the winter months.

“We have a bunch of gardens in the downtown but didn’t have an overall plan in place (previously) to make them cohesive and maintain them,” said Nicholson.

Overall, the federal government is spending $500-million through the Tourism Relief Fund to help tourism-oriented businesses and organizations recover from the pandemic and prepare for future growth, with a minimum of $50 million of the fund allocated to supporting Indigenous-led projects or Indigenous-focused projects.

FedDev Ontario is contributing nearly $120 million of the funding across southern Ontario.

With a two-year national investment of $500 million, the community revitalization fund supports projects that build new community infrastructure and revitalize existing assets, bring people back to public spaces safely and stimulate local economies.

This includes $139 million for projects in southern Ontario, delivered by FedDev Ontario.

“We (Canada) are a winter country that hasn’t mastered winter tourism,” said Boissonnault at the Peggy Hill Team Community Centre in Barrie on Monday. “Tourism is big business.”

The funding is also intended to create jobs, grow local economies and provide accessible, public community spaces for all to enjoy.

With files from Bob Bruton, BarrieToday.com.