Communities don’t have a lot of time left to get their share on some government funding.
Rose Austin — Business Manager at the Saugeen Economic Development Corporation — says there is 100 million dollars available to help municipalities and not-for-profit organizations with economic development.
Austin says it is part of the Conservative governments economic stimulus package under the Community Adjustment Fund that will see 1 billion dollars being spent over the next 5 years.
She says this is the first part of the program that was announced in May and the money has to be used by May 31st, 2010.
Austin says the money can be used for things like infrastructure projects, purchasing equipment, or to allow not-for-profit organizations to expand or diversify.
She says the economic impact on communities can be great depending on the size of the project.
Austin says applications for 2009 have to be submitted to Industry Canada by June 12th.
She says in order to qualify projects must be shovel-ready and create jobs.
She says priority will be given to one-industry rural communities with less than 250 thousand people that went through significant job losses or have seen an increase in Employment Insurance benefits.