The North Simcoe wedge just got a little wider with Midland council driving the latest hit by severing from Culture Alliance in the Heart of Georgian Bay.
Budget considerations are happening around the four municipalities of Midland, Penetanguishene, and the townships of Tiny and Tay. However, the story of the Culture Alliance is one of resilience, inclusion and misguidance.
Started in 2019 as a one-year pilot project from a Midland culture committee, the original Culture Alliance began as a collaboration between the noted municipalities as well as Beausoleil First Nation, each of whom contributed $10,000. Midland also allocated their cultural development coordinator as staff support.
Beausoleil First Nation was the first to formally withdraw its participation and contribution. The others increased annual budgets to $12,500 each in an attempt to maintain the $50,000 overall fund, but that too waned as years passed.
Reshuffling of Midland council members to committees placed Coun. Jaz Patel on the Cultural Alliance, where he saw its shadowed formal self. In November, Patel put forward a motion to evaluate the future of the project and asked council to withdraw, but was lightly scolded for his rough handling of the matter.
During the recent committee of the whole meeting, a report was addressed which offered several options including one in which Midland would withdraw participation, instead allocating budget money into town-focused cultural programming and activities.
“Based on what I see, (its) budget used to be a lot better in terms of when Coun. (Catherine) MacDonald was there,” said Patel. “This year it was done a little bit differently where all the programs were stripped; basically there's no financing left besides just running it bare bones.”
MacDonald defended the project and its dedicated volunteers, stating a withdrawal would “pull the rug out from under them”, urging fellow council to discuss it in January as a budget decision.
Mayor Bill Gordon firmly sided to withdraw. “What started off as, really, a ‘feel good’-type collaborative thing started to fall apart (assumed during the pandemic when) the wheels fell off the bus.
“The funding partners seem to be recoiling from collaborative funding – in not just this but in the other things that we collaborate on,” added Gordon. “We just have to watch other budgets at other municipalities, and watch funding for (Economic Development Corporation of North Simcoe) and things like that drying right up. The whole ‘skipping through the tulips’ as North Simcoe – that's not happening anymore right now.”
Gordon spoke at length to Midland-centric focuses and priorities, saying it was not to be disrespectful to the program’s passionate volunteers.
“This thing – it's done. It's circling the bowl right now,” said Gordon. “And if that changes in the future where the municipalities decide they want to get back together again and fund joint initiatives – barely – then nothing says we couldn't rekindle this.
“I've always told them they do amazing things with what little they have, but now it's being throttled back even more to the point where they're not even running programming. Why are we doing this? This isn't really about money now; this is just more about a floundering thing that seems to have lost relevance.”
When asked of time put in, culture and community manager Karen Mealing informed council that she worked over 150 hours between January through November on the program initiatives which could be redirected into Midland.
MacDonald asked for a recorded vote, and was the sole ‘nay’ in a 6-1 decision to fund $7,500 to the Culture Alliance until April when a formal withdrawal could be executed; (Coun. Sheldon East and Jamie-Lee Ball were absent).
The Culture Alliance status and future report is available in the council agenda on the town of Midland website.
Council meetings are held every third Wednesday, and can be viewed on Rogers TV cable channel 53 when available, or through the livestream on the Rogers TV website. Archives of council meetings are available through Rogers TV and on the Town of Midland’s YouTube channel.
