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Municipal Affairs
October 11, 2006
Minister Announces
Restoration of Funding to Community Enhancement Program
The Honourable John Ottenheimer, Acting
Municipal Affairs Minister, announced today that government has restored
funding to the Community Enhancement Program (CEP). Due to the immediate
employment support needs created by the closure of the Fortune fish
plant government had directed some $1.3 million on an interim basis from
the $4 million budgeted under CEP to assist the people of that
community.
�The closure of the Fortune Fish Plant has had a very significant and
lasting impact on the lives of workers and the community. That
heightened impact justified an intense and immediate response from
government, making it necessary to temporarily divert funding from the
Community Enhancement Program to Fortune,� said Minister Ottenheimer. �I
am pleased to announce today that, as promised, CEP funding has been
fully restored.�
Minister Ottenheimer noted that this necessary response to Fortune
caused some communities to express concern that their employment support
needs and the corresponding infrastructure enhancements coming from that
employment would not be fully met. Meanwhile others expressed concerns
about changes regarding income threshold and the limiting of hours an
individual can work on a CEP project if they worked the maximum hours on
a project in the previous year. After careful deliberation and
consultation, government has reconsidered its position and will not be
implementing the proposed requirements.
�Government has listened,� said Minister Ottenheimer. �Although these
proposed changes to the Community Enhancement Program were made with the
intention to ensure employment assistance is best directed to the people
who need it most, the concerns raised by stakeholder groups made it
necessary to reconsider those changes.�
The minister noted that when the $4 million under CEP is combined with
the $1.3 million for Fortune, an estimated $2 million response to the
closure of the Marystown fish plant and another $2 million under the
provincial Brush Cutting Program, government�s investment in employment
support programs totals $9.3 million.
The Community Enhancement Program is a provincially-funded, targeted
employment creation program focused on creating short-term employment
initiatives for eligible participants. The program utilizes a
community-based sponsor and delivery model. Employment assistance will
be provided through community projects that will strive to provide an
enduring benefit to communities.
Media contact:
John Tompkins
Director of Communications
709-729-1983, 690-2498
2006 10 11
11:10 a.m. |
